Entrepreneurship and self-employment for mature-aged people

Not only do Australian mature-aged entrepreneurs contribute $11.9 billion per annum to the Australian economy inover 379,000 businesses, they launch approximately 14,000 new businesses each year and actively contribute to fiscal,social, health, and active ageing outcomes in their communities. Thirty-four per cent of all young businesses in Australiaare now led by mature-aged entrepreneurs, identifying mature-aged entrepreneurship as the fastest growing sector ofentrepreneurship. This study is the first of its kind to examine mature-aged entrepreneurship in Australia using fivepragmatic and embedded case-study examples. Aligning to Cartensen’s sociomotional selection theory, we adopted aninterpretivist philosphical framework of emergent enquiry action research. The paper includes benefits and challengesassociated with mature-aged entrepreneurship, including contextual and theoretical foundations. We provide policyand research recommendations to enhance the development of a dedicated entrepreneurial ecosystem for matureaged people