Entrepreneurship isn’t just a young person’s game, and to prove it, the Small Business Administration (SBA) and AARP are teaming up to hold a “Summer of Mentoring” all season long to help educate older Americans about how to open or grow their very own small businesses.
This joint program, which began June 1, aims to provide entrepreneurs age 50 and up with educational seminars, technical advice and expertise from fellow business owners and community leaders. Since they began working together in 2012, the SBA and AARP have mentored over 300,000 new and current small business entrepreneurs. This latest effort marks a concentrated push into providing the necessary marketing tools to ambitious Americans with years of experience already under their belts.
“AARP has been a great partner in helping encore entrepreneurs not just to retire, but also to rewire,” Maria Contreras-Sweet, SBA Administrator, said in a press release. “These entrepreneurs more often have the experience and wisdom to reach for their dreams of running a small business, and we want to help them reach that dream and change the world.”
While this may seem like a fairly small target audience at first glance, a 2012 poll says otherwise. In that year, two-thirds of 1,400 business owners who had incorporated their companies were over 60 years old and had previously opened their own business. Of that group, 10 percent had actually started five small businesses of their own. Suffice to say, the drive to open and manage your own business doesn’t wane with age, and this new SBA/AARP program looks to get these older entrepreneurs back into the market with the mentoring and assistance they may need.
If you’re looking to expand a small business in Ohio, regardless of your age, and are looking for affordable, long-term, fixed-rate small business loans to make your ambitions a reality, consult with Growth Capital Corp. today.
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