Entrepreneurship, at any age!
When you think of the stereotypical entrepreneur, it’s safe to say that neither a sixty-year-old man nor a twenty-one year old graduate come to mind. It’s probably more along the lines of a suit wearing man in his mid-thirties, geared up to the max with smart watches and adorned with the latest tech.
This couldn’t be further from the truth. Entrepreneurship isn’t confined to young men, fresh out of their career in finance or sales. The definition of an ‘entrepreneur’ is someone who “creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards”. This someone can be anyone - it could be you!
The qualities of entrepreneurship don’t suddenly fade away once you pass the 50 mark; if anything, they’ll only grow. Jeremy and Ellen are prime examples of entrepreneurs who don’t fit the stereotype.
Jeremy, TouchByte’s MD, founded this company five years ago, at the ripe old age of 55.
After leaving a successful career within the facial recognition sector, he came to the realisation that the tech he had developed during his career wasn’t reaching its full potential; there was an obvious gap in the market that wasn’t being met.
Fast forward a couple of years, and TouchByte is a market leader within the UK for practical FR technology.
Ellen, TouchByte’s Head of Marketing, on the flip side, was in the middle of a degree in Journalism when she became a company founder.
After completing a university module on creating niche magazines, she discovered a gap in the market in the world of modern witchcraft; something she previously had no knowledge of. Instead of handing her idea over to keen editors who wanted to pursue her idea, she ran with it herself and launched Witches Magazine. She was 19 when she incorporated.
The moral of the story? You’re never too young, or too old, to be an entrepreneur. Be brave, be bold - take the risk! You’ll never enjoy the rewards of entrepreneurship if you don’t take the step into the unknown first. Gender, age, and experience shouldn’t get in your way - if you have the drive, the ambition, and the ‘go get ‘em’ attitude, chances are, you’re on to a winner.
