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Ten years from now, small business owners will be a far more diverse group than at any other time in this country’s history, according to a new study by Intuit Inc. By 2017, stay-at-home moms, baby boomers, immigrants and Generation Yers will be the dominant players in the world of entrepreneurship.
Among the study’s highlights:
BOOMERS: With more than 76 million healthy and achievement-oriented baby boomers scheduled to retire over the next 10 years, boomers are hardly hitting the rocking chair: They will “boomerang” back to prior employers as consultants, start up firms aimed at solving social problems and try their hand at new business interests.
GENERATION Y (ages 5 to 25): Members of Generation Y, the country’s most entrepreneurial generation ever, are self-confident, have strong technological and personal networks and show little fear of taking risks. As a result of seeing their parents lose jobs through corporate downsizing, layoffs and outsourcing, they are skeptical of working in the corporate world and wish to be in charge of their own destiny. Courses for entrepreneurs have grown at the college, high school and even elementary school level in recent years, with the number of academic chairs being funded specifically for entrepreneurial education almost doubling since 1999.
MOMPRENEURSHIP: Personal, home-based businesses will be an attractive alternative to mothers who choose to take a break from their career to raise their children but still want the challenge and income they get from working. With the number of American business owners with no employees at over 20 million and firms without a payroll making up over 70% of the nation’s businesses, “mompreneurs” will be a significant part of the entrepreneurial landscape in the coming years.
IMIGRANTS: Immigrants are the fastest growing segment of small business owners today. With contacts in their native countries and Internet and other connective technologies enabling their businesses to be both global and local, immigrant entrepreneurs are helping to create a new wave of small business globalization.
To see Intuit’s complete report on the profile of small business in 2017, visit www.intuit.com/futureofsmallbusiness.
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Lois Levine has more than 20 years experience in magazine publishing, having worked as an editor for publications that include Rolling Stone, Working Woman, Her New York, Where New York (editor in chief) and Bloomberg Personal Finance (managing editor). She can be contacted at llevine@nyreport.com.
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