A new wave of baby boomer entrepreneurs likely to be unleashed by the current economic turmoil will be an important force in eventually pushing the economy onto safer ground, some experts say.
A late-September poll by the Kauffman Foundation, which promotes entrepreneurship, showed that 70% of respondents agreed that the success and health of the economy depended on the success of entrepreneurs; 80% agreed the government should encourage more entrepreneurship.
For The Record
Los Angeles Times Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Home Edition Main News Part A Page 2 National Desk 1 inches; 47 words Type of Material: Correction
Small business: An article in Business on Monday about a new wave of baby boomer entrepreneurs said the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship and Small Business is at Columbia University. The center is actually part of Baruch College's Zicklin School of Business in New York City.
Though many people think of entrepreneurs as twentysomethings laboring in their garages on the next Silicon Valley success, the reality is that people age 35 and older have higher entrepreneurship activity rates, a separate Kauffman study found.
"People in the older age brackets are much more likely to successfully start companies than younger people," said Tim Kane, economist at the foundation and co-author of the organization's Growthology blog.
Older workers or professionals often "have personal savings they rely on, and they've actually worked in an area and know a sector -- it might be a steel factory -- where they have an idea that their company is not willing to get behind," he said.
Consultant Joe Stevens is a good example. The Marina del Rey resident was in his mid-50s in 2003 when he lost his job as a bank executive. That job had been a lifeline when his prior position was also lost in an acquisition, he said. That was in the healthcare field, where he'd worked since he was 23.
"I was really hung out to dry," Stevens said. "It was my age. I felt I had no other option but to start a business."
He looked to his work experience to find a need to fill. As former chief operating officer at a firm that assembled medical equipment, he knew firsthand how a well-designed safety incentive plan could cut injuries and thus reduce pricey workers' compensation insurance premiums.
He sold his condo to fund the first year of Bridge Consultants Inc. and struggled to convince potential clients when he had no customers who could provide references. By the end of the year, he had made $27,000.
That was in 2003. Today, Stevens said his Playa del Rey firm employs three people and he expects sales of at least $500,000 this year.
Potentially thousands of baby boomers could try to follow his lead as jobs are lost or jeopardized by the economic crisis.
