Proof that innovation isn’t the prerogative of the young

An inspiring story in today’s Metro concerns two women who four years ago, in their fifties, established Incredible Edible – a food growing and sharing scheme which has now been adopted internationally.

To date, more than 30 other areas in Britain have taken on the name and similar schemes are running all over the world.

Incredible Edible was founded by Pamela Warhurst and Mary Clear – now 61 and 56 respectively who wanted to cut through all the red tape that often comes with community projects and just get out there and grow.

Incredible Edible relies on volunteers and donations and a refreshing “can-do” attitude. ‘We never envisaged that it would become a world movement,” said Mary Clear. “We have no staff, no office, no filing cabinet or telephone number other than our own, and yet a world movement has happened. …We had the balls to stick with it and carry it through, without referring to the usual models – consultants and bureaucracy.”

This is a wonderful example of older people’s entrepreneurial activity, energy and passion which we know is there in bucket loads and about which we should hear more. Any more examples anyone?

PS: The only downside of the Metro article is that the accompanying illustration is of a random young woman. Why no picture of the two ladies themselves, or at least a photo of an older gardener?

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/news/newsfocus/901280-incredible-edible-launches-scheme-to-grow-and-pick-food-anywhere#ixzz1x61510mf
 

 

Starting a business in later life – eyes wide open

(by Dr Dianne Bown-Wilson)

I was delighted to be on Radio 4′s Woman’s Hour today talking about starting a business in later life. My role was to point out some of the perils and pitfalls – not easy in the few short minutes you get to give a soundbite or two.

However, the woman from Ely who they were featuring as a case study (having set up a wool shop after a career in nursing) was a great example of how to do it. Planning, focus, understanding her market – she has got off to a great start and has realistic expectations for the future. In short, she’s a great role model for older people (particularly older women) whatever their business aspirations. What was especially good was how much she seemed to be really enjoying it…

While starting a business in later life is no different in essence to doing so at any age, it would be helpful to see positive role models like these more widely publicised and to have some sort of forum where olderpreneurs could share their experiences - good and bad.

The government has highlighted self-employment as an option for keeping older people in the workforce. However, it’s far from the simple panacea it seems. The problem is that starting a business is really very easy; sustaining it and turning a profit can be extremely difficult and that’s really where help and advice is needed.

At in my prime we have a few case studies on our website of people who’ve set up businesses   (http://www.inmyprime.info/examples.html).  But we’re always looking for more. If you’ve started a business in later life or are thinking of doing so - please contact us at enquiries@inmyprime.info . We’d really like to hear about it.

What older women look like

Worth taking a look at Bel Mooney’s piece in today’s Daily Mail defending Carole Middleton’s (soon to be mother-in-law of future King) choice of clothes. Carole is 56 and apparently has been criticised for dressing “inappropriately” for her age.

How long will it take journalists to accept that today this is what women in their fifties, sixties and seventies look like? If you’ve always been interested in fashion and looking good, why would you stop and put yourself into purdah when you reach a certain age?

As the article quite rightly points out, the younger Middletons got their sense of style from their mother – and no doubt will continue to be guided (if only in their own minds) by that inherited sense of what looks appropriate and good – whatever their age.

Let’s hope that Carole, in her newly prominent position, turns out to be another much-needed standard bearer for older women.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-1374699/Hooray-Carole-Middleton-frump-free-style.html

Working at 90

A heartening and heart-warming news story in The Lawyer magazine this week about Reg Frary, 90 years old and still working as a proofreader for London law firm, Taylor Wessing.

Frary is known as the ’master of spelling and grammar’ and anybody at the firm can go to him with any sort of document for checking.

Despite having to get up at 5am every day to get to work for 7.30am, he loves his job: “I like working with the trainees because they’re such wonderful, bright young people,” he says.”I learn a lot from them, but they’ll often come to me with grammatical questions.”

“It’s not their fault because they just haven’t been taught basic grammar at school, so I like to help them along and teach them myself.”

When asked about the future, he is optimistic of continuing: “I’m going to keep eating my porridge every morning and ­coming into work to meet all these lovely people. Your feet go first when you get older, but I’ve still got my brain.”

Splendid.  If only more older employees were so positive about their situation and their employers so enlightened about their contribution…

To access the article: http://www.thelawyer.com/the-oldest-proofreader-in-town/1003988.article

My but you’re (not) looking good

One of the problems with ageing compared to say, gender or race, is that it’s not a key identifier. No one is either old or ageing or not, we are all ageing from the day we are born.

How old we look, particularly in later life, may actually reflect how old we actually are or may not. And that can be an individual or group thing anyway. After all, what consensus is there on what a 50, 60 or 70 year old is supposed to look like these days?

I was reminded of this recently when flicking through Saga magazine (nb if you’re over 50 and haven’t read it, try it – but ignore the walk-in bath ads).  They publish a monthly list of Decade Busters –the names of well-known people who are turning 50, 60, 70, 80 or 90.

I regularly glance at the names starting with the oldest and invariably think, “Really! Didn’t think they were that old”, or occasionally, “Oh, I thought they’d died years ago”.

In the middle are those who are often either younger or older than you thought they were.

The damning thing, I’ve realised, is that invariably amongst the youngest – those just turning 50 – are people who you think, “What, only 50? You’re not doing too well…”

No doubt this is all fuel for the fire that maintains that whatever we do to counter it, ageism is fundamentally and deeply entrenched in us all…

Meaningful mentoring

The value of older people as mentors and their understanding of the power of on-line social networking have both been amply demonstrated in the Yell and horsesmouth Mentoring Works Awards. The three awards for business mentoring, which were drawn from user nominations on the online mentoring website horsesmouth.co.uk, were all won by individuals over the age of 50.

The winner of the £1000 Mentor of The Year Award is 64-year old Keith Williams from Ackworth in Yorkshire, a SFEDI (Small Firms Enterprise Development Initiative) accredited professional, who advises small businesses and social enterprises. Having created and developed many successful businesses in the last 20 years, Keith feels he has made plenty of mistakes and learned from them and believes that today he can pass on this learning to young entrepreneurs on the way up. 

Winner of The £500 Editor’s Prize, for the most inspiring story published on horsesmouth.co.uk, is 51-year old Jayne Bellis from Chester. The £500 M-Factor Award – for the most active business mentor with the highest rating on the site, goes to 52-year old Michael Birchmore from Portsmouth.

horsesmouth.co.uk is the world’s first ‘pro-social’ networking site and was purpose-built in 2008 for online mentoring on a wide range of topics including education, careers, health, families and relationships. It is free and available to anyone over the age of 16, with the majority of the site’s users being under 25. The site is professionally hosted, managed and moderated and all profiles, stories and weblinks are approved before posting.

Much is talked about in the workplace concerning the potential role of older workers as mentors. This is proof, if any was needed, that the wisdom of age and experience is welcomed by the young if presented in a relevant, individualised and meaningful way. Employers would do well to consider what they might learn from this model.

Enduring entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurs. They’re young, innovative, dynamic types aren’t they?

Apparently not. Interesting results from the publication Management Today show a surprisingly high number of older people popping up in their list of the year’s Top 100 Entrepreneurs.  “An extraordinary 58 are aged 60 or over. And no fewer than 11 have passed their 70th birthday”, they report. Well blow me down.

Obviously as with all research you need to dig a bit deeper to find out what this actually means. Are these just enduring entrepreneurs who started young (e.g. Richard Branson) and are now ageing, or those who have taken up the sport recently? Either way, it hardly matters if their current performance demonstrates that they are outstripping their younger rivals.

This is certainly something to be taken on board by employers or HR managers who may believe that older people aren’t capable of high performance outputs and are only fit for the knackers yard. There’s an interesting use too by MT of the term “Silvertops” to describe older entrepreneurs.  It has quite a jolly ring to it somehow.

Reward and Recognition

Splendid news that Caroline Waters, director of people and policy at BT has been awarded an OBE for “services to diversity and equal opportunities”.

HR Magazine who voted her HR director of the year in 2009, reported:

“Waters is one of the pioneers in the adoption of innovative approaches to workforce management and her enthusiasm for the benefits of work-life balance are unrivalled. She has been unflagging in her efforts to demonstrate that flexible working is good for business.

BT is a leading employer when it comes to an ageing workforce …The company’s youngest employee is 16 and oldest 75, marking an age gap of nearly 60 years.”

It’s great to see that Caroline’s efforts have been rewarded – particularly in the area of demonstrating that flexible working is good for business – and that “age management” applies to workers of all ages. Let’s hope this leads to a greater recognition by other employers that great things can be achieved in this area and equally, that there is a strong business case for doing them.

What’s so special about 50+?

Oscar, the concessions site for the over 50s has launched a new award to coincide with UK Older Person’s Day and Grandparents’ Day which both take place this month. They’ve called them the Golden Owls and their purpose is to “find the cream of the over-50s”.  All well and good -  we strongly support the idea of promoting the position of older people and would always encourage the recognition of much needed role models for what being “over 50” is like these days.

But sadly, a closer look at the categories reveals that this is hardly likely to be the outcome. If you want to vote you can choose from:
•  THE EUREKA – most inspirational person of our time
•  THE ENDURANCE – longest-lasting celebrity
•  THE GIVER – Most worthy charity
•  THE INNOVATOR – Most recognised achievement in industry
•  THE OLYMPIAN – Outstanding contribution to sport
•  THE OWL – Lifetime Achievement Award

All of these are likely to produce the same old names representing the same old activities. What’s happened to the really meaningful stuff like:

The Feminist – the woman who has overcome ageist stereotypes

The Supporter – the individual from whatever sphere who has most helped the cause of older people

The Communicator – the writer, artist or commentator who has most clearly contributed to greater understanding about ageing in the twenty-first century

The Worker – the employee who sets the best example of what later life working can be

We’re sure there are plenty more categories that would be really worthwhile including those in areas such as caring, wisdom, and original thought. Why not let us know what you’d like to see?

In the meantime, as nominations close on October 15^th, you ‘ll have to be quick with the Golden Owls if you want to cast your vote.

Click here  to see more

Case studies needed

We are often approached by journalists who need real life case studies of people in their prime (i.e. 50s and 60s) to interview for newspaper or magazine articles they are writing. Just at the moment we have a request for women who are currently planning a retirement dream – the interview will focus on financial planning aspects and will be published in a new financial services magazine coming out early in 2010. The closing date for potential interviewees for this is September 18^th. 

However, on an ongoing basis, we are always happy to hear from anyone in this age group who feels they have an interesting story to tell, particularly in relation to a special achievement in later life or perhaps starting a business or taking a change of direction. We can feature you on the Prime Examples section of our website (www.inmyprime.info) and of course, could then contact you if we were approached by a journalist looking for case studies such as yours. For those of you who do have a business it can be a great publicity opportunity and, this aside, your story can be a huge source of inspiration and a role model to other people who are rethinking their lives.

Please get in touch!

Email enquiries@inmyprime.info