05 May, 2021

At the morning session of the opening day in the 3E Conference 2021, Sarah Davis, Senior Researcher with the Hincks Centre and Dr Breda Kenny, Head, School of Business, MTU presented their paper called “Advancing older entrepreneurial education: exploring suitability of an inclusive programme”

The paper reports research into older entrepreneurial education that was conducted as part of the MTU Rísam sponsored PhD study (2017-2021) called Smart Ageing and Renewal through Entrepreneurial Skills Training. Data was gathered from older individuals in Ireland and entrepreneurship educators from a previous 3E conference in 2018.

The findings show that an existing collaboratively designed, process-based programme of entrepreneurial training materials is suitable to provide training to people aged 65 or older. Interesting differences were noted between the educator and the older people’s perspectives of what should be included in bespoke training.

The research points to prior interest or experience in business required for older entrepreneurial engagement with further studies needed to find a broader fit to the entrepreneurial needs of the heterogenous cohort of older individuals.

Thank you to the discussants Matthijs Smit, Kaija Arhio, Eddy Laveren and Birgitte Helbæk Marcussen, to the audience for their valuable comments and insights and to Chair Dag Håkon Haneberg.