Harnessing the silver tsunami: an investigation into the benefits and challenges of senior entrepreneurship in Singapore
通过访谈九位50岁后创业的新加坡老年企业家，发现创业不仅带来经济贡献，还提升创造力、韧性等，尽管面临精力下降等挑战。
Singapore, facing a rapidly ageing population, is on the brink of a ‘silver tsunami’. While researchers have highlighted the potential economic and societal challenges of this demographic shift, this wave of senior talent also presents a unique opportunity. By effectively harnessing and channelling this talent, Singapore can boost senior entrepreneurship, which can generate taxes, create jobs and improve health while mitigating the negative economic and social impacts. This paper aims to explore the benefits and challenges of senior entrepreneurship in this context. Adopting a qualitative interpretivist approach, the study gathered data through semi-structured interviews with nine senior entrepreneurs who launched their ventures in their 50s and two focus groups, which was then analysed thematically. The results indicated that the senior entrepreneurial arena provided a platform where senior participants not only overcame the challenges of new start-ups and contributed to economic growth but also fostered their creativity, resilience, patience, and adaptability, enjoying the experience so thoroughly that they had no plans for retirement. This is despite facing challenges like declining energy levels. These findings can be beneficial to both local contexts and the global ageing population.