Older Entrepreneurship Booming In Brooklyn, Study Shows

EAST NEW YORK, BROOKLYN -- You don't have to be a millennial with a man bun to become a Brooklyn entrepreneur, according to a new study.

The Center for an Urban Future, a New York-based think tank, found Brooklyn residents over the age of 50 are starting businesses in record numbers, and nowhere more so than in Brownsville, Bushwick and East New York, according to a report released Wednesday.

“Millennials aren’t the only ones starting businesses in New York,” said CUF executive director Jonathan Bowles.

“The boom in older entrepreneurs is just getting started, and it has enormous potential to boost the city’s economy and help loads of New Yorkers become more financially secure later in life.”

The number of working seniors (as in experience, not citizens) jumped 186 percent in Brownsville, 172 percent in Bushwick and 95 percent in East New York, according to the study, “Starting Later: Realizing the Promise of Older Entrepreneurs in New York City."

The CUF study also found there are 5,961 self-employed Brooklynites who are 50 and older and that the number of Brooklynites over the age of 60 has jumped 64 percent since 2005.

Citywide, Brownsville ranked third, Bushwick ranked fourth and East New York ranked eighth for surges in elder entrepreneurship.

Analysts encouraged Mayor Bill de Blasio to promote and support the surge in older entrepreneurship by increasing job and tech training opportunities typically geared toward that traditional iPhone-clutching, beard-sporting millennial.

"[We] have put focus on supporting initiatives in the community that address their specific needs," said Mariadele Priest of Capital One, the company that co-sponsored the project. “We see the huge opportunity with this population of entrepreneurs."

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