ENTREPRENEURSHIP: The New Wave of Productive Aging

Abstract

Due to the increasing number of older persons in the world today much attention had been directed towards discussion of their welfare. With the mandatory retirement at the age of 60, older Filipinos find themselves financially dependent to the government, to their pensions or to their children. But just how long can these providers last? Life definitely does not end at retirement or at reaching the third quarter of their life. And not everyone was able to save enough money to support themselves until around 20 more years or so. Thus new trends have begun to set pace. Older Filipinos now resort to entrepreneurship as a veiy lucrative way of staying productive as they enter their golden years. This study then was aimed at exploring and evaluating the phenomenon of aging productively through entrepreneurship in Filipino older persons. An evaluation of the respondents’ quality of life was utilized as a parameter or the dependent variable while engaging in entrepreneurial ventures as means of aging productively is the independent variable. There are also other variables in the study such as the socio-demographic profile of the respondents, the nature of the entrepreneurial venture, the benefits and drawbacks and the motivations. The outcome of this study would open up a very lucrative option for Filipino older persons as they age productively. This qualitative study utilized a case-study research design which focused on an in-depth analysis of the community of old aged Filipino entrepreneurs residing in semi-urban towns of Bicol (Pili and Naga) and Bulacan (Balagtas). The study population for this research are 30 Filipino older persons aged 60 and above residing in semi-urban areas who were still engaging in entrepreneurial activities as their way of aging productively. The study conveyed the sample’s demographic profile, motivations for staying productive, the advantages and drawbacks of the entrepreneurial activity and the over-all evaluation of their lives. Results have shown that with the appropriate physical, emotional, psychological, social and economical status, the aging individual can successfully engage in entrepreneurial activities. Although, there are drawbacks such as stress, the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Indeed, entrepreneurship has served as a very lucrative activity for the aging individual. With the benefits brought by the activity, it aids the individual in gaining a good and satisfying quality of life.