The doctor and neuroscientist Jo Furlan chose Unicamp to launch the concept of senior entrepreneurship. “We are defending the concept in Brazil and chose the UniversIDADE Program as a partner”, she declares. Jô Furlan is a volunteer instructor for the Program, as well as an international lecturer. According to him, senior entrepreneurship is the way in which the skills and knowledge acquired with age are used to undertake.
Author of the book “Intelligence of Success – The new intelligence that explains the science of success”, Furlan teaches Repair Shop on the subject, which aims to equip the older population with the main tools and business plan, as well as stimulate the innovative concept in a population over 50 years old and, as he himself defines, VES – Vivida, Experiente and Wise.
Unicamp Portal – What does the word undertake mean?
Jo Furlan – An entrepreneur is the person who will invest, embark either in the social or business environment. You can undertake as an entrepreneur, you can undertake in the social sector, in your professional career. Everything that you establish a willingness to grow and that requires personal investment, I call entrepreneurship.
PU – So, what would senior entrepreneurship be?
Jo Furlan – Senior entrepreneurship was created as part of one of my theses on the issue of dementia. Something that I identified and believe to be fundamental, different from what people understand as healthy aging, would be developing productive longevity. You can only have a healthy longevity if you are productive.
PU – How did the concept come about?
Jo Furlan – When I was researching in 2016, I noticed that more than 50% of open companies belonged to people over 50 years old. This raised a yellow for me. This person had a job and is now starting a business, but it is a risk because they have never owned anything. People need to understand that the wealth they have accumulated over the years is for retirement or for entrepreneurship. I've seen people who lost everything they had saved for years. Another example, people who sell their property and invest everything and then find themselves unable to survive. So, senior entrepreneurship is how I use my skills and my knowledge of age to undertake.
PU – Why the term senior?
Jo Furlan – I really question the term elderly, third age and better age. For me, we have to think that a person over 50 has to be VES – Vivid, experienced and wise. I also don't think age is better, as it's true that you no longer have energy. So I'm going to use the advantages to my advantage and fix the disadvantages. I translate this to entrepreneurship and see what I have as experience.
PU – What are the characteristics of senior entrepreneurship?
Jo Furlan – So, it is necessary to adapt. If the instructor is a young to middle-aged guy, he will speak to the young person and not to older people. The person will feel foolish. It's discouraging, as you don't understand some issues and start to feel incapable. It is necessary to customize an entrepreneurship program for people who have already lived and have a mega experience of having a great boss, working, but not owning their business. The person who has already had a business will not be here with us, they already know how to do it.
PU – What is the social impact on the family that this type of attitude can have?
Jo Furlan – I believe this will be transformative. As a neuroscientist, I am absolutely against the concept that old people have to stay at home. That old man doesn't have to do anything. It's not a question of money. It's a question of the brain. Our other course here is called “How to Use Your Brain Better”. If you don't demand from your brain, it will settle and deteriorate prematurely. You may ask: If I use my brain better, won't I get dementia? I answer that there are no guarantees, but I guarantee that if you don't use it, it will definitely deteriorate faster.
