Some start-up grants are reserved for 18-35 year-olds. Is being over 35 synonymous with less successful entrepreneurs? “No,” says Anne-Solène Rioult, who has just launched a petition: End the “grant age” for entrepreneurial support.
Quebec’s Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Industrie (MEI) has just launched a new support program for entrepreneurs, offering bursaries worth up to $25,000 each. Only, they are reserved for 18-35 year-olds. That’s what Anne-Solène Rioult, co-founder of Les Facilitatrices, which helps entrepreneurs develop their businesses, is denouncing. On Sunday September 15, she launched the petition: Mettre fin à l’âge des bourses pour le soutien aux entrepreneurs.
In an interview with URelles, she explains: “I’m against putting an age on grants for entrepreneurs. I support a lot of start-up entrepreneurs, especially women who, in my experience, go into business later and are excluded from these support programs.”
URelles looked into the matter.
Dedicated support for women
Women go into business slightly later than men. That’s according to a study on Quebec entrepreneurs and business owners of generations X and Y, published in December 2014, by the Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Université Laval’s Faculty of Business Administration. The median age at starting, buying or taking over a business is 29 for women versus 27 for men.
There are financial assistance programs reserved for women. Here are a few examples. In Quebec, Femmessor offers financing for women-owned businesses. For women in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics), the BDC has opened a dedicated venture capital fund: the Fund for Women in Technology. The J. Armand Bombardier Foundation offers $10,000 scholarships for up-and-coming female entrepreneurs.
Starting a business before 35 is no guarantee of success
According to the Indice Entrepreneurial Québécois, new businesses started by young people have the same closure rate as those started by older people.
The author of the petition cites an American study Age and High-growth entrepreneurship, which concludes that successful entrepreneurs tend to be in their forties and older. The authors found that the average age of the fastest-growing founder of a new business is 45.
So starting a business before the age of 35 is not synonymous with success. And it’s not just young people who want to start a business. The Indice Entrepreneurial Québécois notes that Generation X, i.e. the 35 to 49 age group, has a business start-up intention rate that tripled between 2012 and 2018.
Are organizations offering scholarships ageist?
Other age-restricted grants, with justification from the organization
The MEI bursary is not the only age-restricted form of assistance. The Canadian government, in partnership with BDC (Bank of Canada), offers 18-39 year-olds the Futurpreneur program, which provides low-interest, unsecured financing, mentoring and expertise. When asked about this, Maryse Gingras, Regional Director for Quebec, explains that Futurpreneur, which has been in existence for 23 years, already reacted six years ago. They raised the age criterion from 35 to 39, realizing that this would enable them to reach a greater proportion of start-up entrepreneurs. In addition, numerous documents and videos are available free of charge on their website.
Montréal Inc offers the Bourse+ for business start-ups between the ages of 18 and 35. When contacted to explain the reasons for this limitation, the organization replies that their age criteria were established at the time of the organization’s creation, and are interwoven with their charitable status.
Samuelle Fillion, Head of Communications at Montréal Inc, reacts to the petition for URelles: “We are well aware of the restrictive nature of these criteria, especially for women. Especially since we’ve worked very hard in recent months to set up a free coaching program for women entrepreneurs, to help them move from idea to action. We’re looking for solutions and welcome this initiative. It will provide us with arguments to convince us of the need to support aspiring entrepreneurs making the leap after the age of 35.”
Successful petition and a meeting with the Minister
The petition was a resounding success, exceeding the 500-signature threshold in just 5 days. Anne Solène Rioult has been contacted by MEI and has an appointment with Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon on October 29. She intends to draw his attention to these figures and ask for a more egalitarian distribution of aid, in her opinion. “If some assistance is offered to 18-35 year-olds, why not offer other assistance targeted at those aged 35 and over?
You can also read our article on: Is co-development the solution for startups seeking financing?
