|
|
|
|
141E - Senior Enterprise - Senior Enterprise
General Information | Filestore
Project priority: Strong and prosperous communities
Strategic Initiatives: unspecified
Start date: 08-10-2008
End date: 30-06-2014
Website: www.mera.ie
ERDF Grant: 916,085.56
Total eligible cost: 1,832,171.12
|
Lead Partner contact person
Name: John Byrne
Organisation: Mid-East Regional Authority
Address: County Buildings, Wicklow County Council, Station Road Wicklow Town Wicklow, Ireland ,
Tel: 00353 40466058
Email: mera@eircom.net
Country: Ireland
|
Project partners
1. Mid-East Regional Authority [IE]
2. The PRIME Initiative Ltd. [UK]
3. inno TSD / Cap Entreprises [FR]
|
|
|
Summary description
APPLYING FOR SI 4: DEMOGRAPHIC CHANGE Support for enterprise creation or other forms of entrepreneurial activity among older people
The objective of Senior Enterprise is an increase in the economic contribution of older people to their local communities through a variety of means: starting new businesses alone or with others, investing in or acquiring businesses started by others, or by advising or supporting innovation in SMEs. This project's ambition reflects a refreshingly positive approach which sees people aged 50+ as a resource to be empowered rather than as a burden
Through an orchestrated awareness campaign, the strategic impact of this initiative will be wider than the number of persons directly engaged and will go beyond the locality. At the end of the pilot, the fully tested initiative will be ready to attract further funding, as the best practice model will be transferable and will be of interest to policy makers responsible for enterprise and demographic change
The current economic downturn sees pressure on employment and pensions for older people. Entrepreneurship and engagement with enterprise provides a means for these individuals to continue to be gainfully employed while providing a range of other economic and personal benefits. The initiative will develop and test, in a number of transnational contexts, suitable means of tapping into the knowledge, skills and resource base that exist among older age groups (50+) in order to increase the number of new enterprises being started and as a means of strengthening new and existing SMEs. The activity directly links to the Lisbon and Gothenberg agendas and is expected to have long term impact.
As a result of the initiative, older citizens will be encouraged to remain active, contribute to the development of vibrant communities and engage across the generations. A real contribution will be made to strengthening growth, competitiveness and innovation across the NWE area.
|
Detailed description
Senior Enterprise has been almost 18 months in development. During this time the partners and observers have established a very good working relationship. Already it is clear that each has expertise and insights that are valued by the others and all welcome the opportunity to learn from each other and share ideas.
The process of developing the Senior Enterprise initiative from a general concept to detailed, fully costed plans for activities across four work packages, with defined outcomes and timescales for each partner, has demonstrated the commitment of the group and its ability to work well together as a very effective transnational team. The planning of Senior Enterprise is developed to the point of the initiative being ready to be implemented as soon as approval is obtained.
The partners have worked well to date under the leadership of the Mid East. Thematic Leaders, who have particular interest and expertise in the relevant area, have been appointed to each of the WPs.
The partners will sign a partnership agreement based on the template supplied by INTERREG in which the role and responsibilities of all the parties will be clearly set out
Building on the plans submitted by the individual partners an overall project management timetable is being prepared. This will be formally reviewed with the partners every quarter. The Thematic Leaders will be responsible for the successful implementation of their WP. Specific timetables will be agreed within which work packages will be delivered & progress will be continually monitored towards meeting these deadlines-See Section 3
The partners will meet in person twice a year to share experience and learning. These meetings will be timed if possible to coincide with events associated with the project e.g. conferences, workshops etc. The Lead Partner will visit individual partners more regularly. Personal meetings will be supplemented by regular contact through email, telephone/Skype and videoconferencing
|
Objectives description
Senior Enterprise is an integrated initiative, which is presented in four Work Packages: WPI RAISING AWARENESS OF SENIOR ENTERPRISE; WP2 STARTING & PARTNERING; WP3 INVESTING & ACQUIRING; WP4 ADVISING & SUPPORTING INNOVATION. Through implementation of these work packages, it is intended that Senior Enterprise will offer support for enterprise creation and other forms of enterprise activity among older people as a means of retaining them as economically active citizens while providing a range of personal and economic benefits to them and their local communities.
The AIMS of Senior Enterprise are as follows:
(i) Raising awareness among the over 50s of the merits of entrepreneurship and engagement with enterprise
(ii) The creation of a more positive view among policy makers of the potential of this group
(iii) An increase in the proportion of those aged 50+ who become entrepreneurs, alone or with others
(iv) An increase in the number of older people investing in new or existing businesses, or acquiring enterprises from owner managers wishing to retire
(v) An increase in the number of knowledgeable and experienced seniors that are available as mentors, coaches or as part of advisory boards to new and established entrepreneurs to support development, growth and innovation within their businesses
(vi)An increase in the number of experienced mentors specially trained to support older entrepreneurs
(vi)The establishment of a EUROPEAN SENIOR ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATION, which will remain in place after the end of the project
(vii) At the end of the pilot, the fully tested initiative will have demonstrated its merits and should be ready to be mainstreamed and attract further funding as project outcomes will be transferable.
|
Activities description
1. The development and testing through action of SUPPORT PROGRAMMES and INSTRUMENTS suitable to meet the needs of those aged 50+ who wish to engage with enterprise, together with recommendations as to the tailoring required for specific regional circumstances. These will be designed to encourage a greater engagement by older people with starting, partnering, acquiring, investing, advising and supporting innovation in new and existing businesses
2. A published collection of ROLE MODEL PROFILES across various economic sectors that will demonstrate through example the manner in which older individuals have successfully engaged with enterprise across the partner regions, e.g. Cuisine de France: Pat Loughery 50+ partnered with Ronan McNamee in starting this venture, since acquired by IAWS
3. By the end of the pilot a fully tested BEST PRACTICE MODEL will be available so that Senior Enterprise may be implemented more widely within the NWE area and more broadly across Europe.
The 9 observers have indicated their strong interest in the project through formal letters. They are particularly well positioned to facilitate the dissemination of Senior Enterprise.
4. The development of a fully interactive and well promoted WEBSITE will assist
-Those in the older age groups who wish to investigate the various means available to them to engage with enterprise
-Communication between participants and between member partners/observers
-Other agencies/organisations across EU that wish to implement Senior Enterprise within their regions/countries
5. EUROPEAN SENIOR ENTERPRISE ASSOCIATION will be set-up with the involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, and will continue in existence long after the life of the project. The LP and several of the observers are involved in Sen@er Network. Insights from this Network will add value to the new Association.
|
|
|
Innovation
Senior Enterprise is highly innovative as it addresses both the demographic change challenge facing the NWE (SI 4 related to Priority 4) while being related in many respects to Priority 1 Innovation.
The Green Paper on Entrepreneurship 2003 and Small Business Act 2008 look to untapped segments of the population i.e. women and immigrants as having greater entrepreneurial and enterprise potential than is currently apparent. Senior Enterprise adopts an innovative approach in viewing older people as similarly having untapped entrepreneurship and enterprise potential. The proposed approach seeks to leverage the accumulated resources, expertise & experience of older individuals in order to address the challenge to increase entrepreneurial activity, strengthen the enterprise base and improve innovation
It is designed with an understanding of what enterprise needs and an understanding of barriers faced by this age group and what they can offer in terms of their accumulated resources
Senior Enterprise takes what is most frequently seen as a negative — demographic change, in particular an ageing population — and turns this into a resource for new and existing businesses with knock on positive effects on growth, entrepreneurship and innovation within vibrant communities.
The approach of Senior Enterprise is to apply the skills and talents of the one to the needs of the other. The result should bring about a much needed increase in the number of entrepreneurs, business partnerships across the generations, investors, innovators and advisers/mentors.
The project proposal has a direct fit with regional, national and policy imperatives, is expected to have outcomes that will have long term benefit, and focuses on resolving challenges through new action led solutions.
Senior Enterprise presents a totally new, integrated solution to address the challenges posed for Europe by ageing, declining communities, and an enterprise deficit.
|
Project specifics
The partners are mindful of the Green Paper on demographic change which highlighted the importance of the demographic challenge for the Lisbon Strategy, in particular the negative impact that ageing could have on annual growth rates, entrepreneurship and initiative. They wish to respond in a positive manner and cooperate on the development, testing and validation of an innovative pilot initiative-Senior Enterprise
The task is not easy given that fewer of the over 50s are currently starting new businesses, Europe is not particularly entrepreneurial and entrepreneurial mindsets are not well developed among this age group. Yet those in this age group are often well positioned to start a new sustainable business or to contribute to a business started by others given their accumulated skills, knowledge, resources and networks developed over a lifetime. The partners are confident that through their joint development of Senior Enterprise, they can release this potential among 50+s
The partners wish to develop and test appropriate programmes and instruments specifically tailored to the older age group. Senior Enterprise will offer older people a choice in the manner of their engagement with enterprise. The various options are designed to release untapped potential that exists among older people, recognising that individuals in the older age groups are not a homogenous group and have different risk profiles
The supports to be tested include information provision, advisory services, mentoring, training, workshops, match making, etc. Transnational cooperation will multiply the opportunities for testing different possibilities. The partners will capitalise on their experience to jointly develop a completely new initiative. It will allow a European Senior Enterprise Association to be set up. The partners and observers are well positioned to ensure speedy dissemination and adoption of the Senior Enterprise approach into policy and practice across the NWE area
|
|
|
Previous EU projects involvement
CITIES IN BALANCE INTERREG IVB: This is an Initiative of 11 European Cities, which is built on improving mainstream opportunities for seniors, moving forward from the traditional approach of intervention and treatment. Of the 3 work packages the Silver Economy actions best reflect and link with similar objectives of Senior Enterprise.
Contact has been made with the Project Co-ordinators and arrangements are in hand to develop a formal linkage between the two Initiatives. This will be designed in such a way as to enable both projects to share their experiences and learn from each other's actions and outcomes. This linkage is expected to be formalised at the CIB Silver Economy Conference in Edinburgh in Sept 2010.
BRIAN DRAIN-BRIAN GAIN INTERREG IIIB: The focus of this project is the development, introduction and evaluation of action plans to reduce the migration of skilled labour from peripheral regions and instead favour migration into these areas.
The project also developed a network between regions to develop robust knowledge and information the topic. Contact has been made with the Project Coordinators to discuss the experiences of awareness raising and to explore how the two projects can learn from each other's actions and outcomes.
THE EQUAL COMMUNITY initiatives, co-funded through the ESF (2000-2006), identified and addressed forms of disadvantage and inequality in the labour market through the development of innovative practises and policies, which included supporting and encouraging entrepreneurship. The results showed that (i) linkages could be built between entrepreneurship, employment and social inclusion and that (ii) while generic approaches to entrepreneurial development were possible, to be most effective they needed to be tailored to the specific circumstances of the group for whom they were intended.
|
|
|
|
