Elder entrepreneurs are blossoming in the U.S.
It is 10 a.m. and as every Sunday Noah Martineaux walks pulling a little green carry cart full of food. She goes towards the corner of Houston and Thompson Street, in Soho, where she has a spot: a table and a chair to sell her products.
Ms. Martineaux is an example of old folks who love starting a new business, despite the economy’s slow recovery. At least in the U.S., where the share of entrepreneurs in the ages 55-64 group rose almost five percent in the last decade, according to the Kaufmann Index of Entrepreneurial Activity 1996-2013, recently released by the Kauffman Foundation.
“Over time, the population has shown somewhat higher rates of entrepreneurship,” said E. J. Reede, Kauffman Foundation’s director in research and policy, adding that it is a clear effect of baby boomers pushing into that age category.
Ms. Martineaux, used to be a chiropractor, practicing in Indonesia and in Ecuador. And what for her two years ago was just an idea, it became a business. In July, she launched AWorldofKitchens.com. She sells her products online as well as in an outdoor market in New York City. “Well, everybody has to eat,” she said. “Food is a pretty basic business.”
She creates condiments, such as olive, cappers, pimento, garlic herb blends in addition to coffee sugars and the line Tiger Mama, so called because they are hot sauces.
“I decided to create this business so that I could literally move into just food and be my own boss again,” she said. “I have created my businesses. It has always been an entrepreneurial thing for me.”
Martineaux doesn’t feel old at all. She said that she enjoys her life and job. Her goal is to eventually go into retail and perhaps open up a small shop.
