In Argentina, where the labor force is considered to be
more “creative” or resourceful
compared to other countries,
one in four workers is involved in some type of entrepreneurial activity.
The most common areas in which they venture are technology, gastronomy, design, education and tourism.
Although
age may seem like a determining factor
for advancing on this path of "self-employment", which requires innovation and a lot of persistence, today there are no impediments to undertaking any activity after the age of 40.
"The important thing is
to be clear about the advantages and disadvantages of starting your own business in adulthood
," explain the experts in Human Resources.
Being older also implies having more experience, knowing more about your own strengths and weaknesses and having learned to delegate, for example.
Also, in general, there is greater financial security, something of great help for the early stages of a company.
But there are also
downsides
associated with starting a big business.
There are entrenched habits, you can be less receptive to ideas, to new technologies.
Starting a business when you are not so young
requires breaking many routines and trying to adopt new approaches.
What follows are
three cases of entrepreneurs
, in different areas, who tell how their experiences were when starting these paths after 40 and what motivated them to undertake.
"I had my first big business before I was 20 years old and my second big business, after I was 40," says
Gastón Gorosterrazu
, creator and CEO of Aptugo, the first intelligent visual software development tool in Argentina.
Gastón Gorosterrazu, creator and CEO of Aptugo
“This helped me to realize the experience that one has as an adult.
At the age of 20, it is intended to solve something big.
At 40, she wants to solve a problem that has been seen for a long time and that nobody has dealt with”
, she shares.
“The ideal entrepreneur is the person who decides to make the tool that solves the problems he experienced during his past career”, he summarizes.
After working in many national and international companies and in different roles, Gastón recognizes that
the downside of starting "late"
is "the unsoundness of the entrepreneurial framework.
The possibilities of an adult become more difficult"
, he says, "On the other hand , resistance can be a factor that works against you since as an entrepreneur you work 24x7 and it is not the same as being 20 years old," he confesses.
Regarding his new project that allowed him to leave his previous job as a dependency, Gastón says that it was created with the aim of
capitalizing software spending and converting it into an investment
.
"It arises so that programmers can empower themselves, so that companies can reuse and benefit from this and it's not just an expense," he says.
Joaquín Sepúlveda Lemus
is the founder and director of Simplestate, a Real Estate investment platform. He believes that "entrepreneurship is not for everyone, regardless of age," he says.
Joaquín Sepúlveda Lemus, creator of the Simplestate platform.
In 2019, working in a coworking, this entrepreneur met who is now his partner,
Gonzalo Abalsamo
.
What united them, beyond the respective work experiences that complemented each other, was the same feeling that
"undertaking is always having goals and working to achieve them."
“When you start, you have all the challenges on your shoulders, no matter how old you are.
To undertake is to have more 'no' than successes.
You don't have the possibility to do the plank,
you always have to renew your energy and be prepared for this ”, she comments.
Sepúlveda Lemus worked in a dependency relationship, but soon realized that this was not for him.
Even knowing that starting a business does not have all the benefits of a company, in 2020 and at the age of 40 he started the Simplestate operation.
The project gave him many ideas to be able to define its focus and characteristics.
“As an entrepreneur there isn't much time for achievement, we dedicate most of our time to experiencing permanent challenges,” he adds.
And he highlights, “the quality that defines an entrepreneur is not age, but
always having new challenges
”, he describes.
For
Vicente Leo Martín
, founder and CEO of Flash Agro, a marketplace for buying and selling services and products associated with agricultural production, age did not matter too much at the time.
“I was 54 years old.
An idea came to me that motivated me a lot and I began to get more involved in the subject”
, he comments.
So, he summoned those who are today his partners.
Vicente Leo Martin, from FlashAgro.
The link that united them and made them start was the motivation for what could be a great project.
Even so, it took them a long time to round off the idea and define what was most important.
Something also difficult at the beginning was that everyone had their activities and no one was 100% dedicated to the project, which made everything slower.
“Obviously,
the availability of money was an obstacle
, and especially from now on, when we are well on our way with the venture.
But I can say that time is the least enough and the most difficult to manage”, comments the entrepreneur.
Regarding the financing of enterprises, according to data from the Association of Entrepreneurs of Argentina (ASEA),
70% of entrepreneurs in Argentina finance their projects with personal savings
and 21% resort to bank loans.
NS
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