Geoff Pearman believes there is an unhealthy stereotype about older people in the workplace and he has made it his life mission to change it.
"You can spot them a mile away," he said.
"We talk about sexism, we talk about racism, but ageism is rife."
Mr Pearman went into business in his early 60s, running a consulting company which helps businesses here and across the Tasman deal with the issue of the "ageing workforce".
He has experienced becoming unemployed later in life.
He lost his job at age 58 and finding another one was tough, he said.
"I was not getting job interviews. It wasn’t a matter of how much skill and knowledge I had, I just wasn’t getting job interviews.
"So that’s when I decided, actually, I’m going to do my own thing."
After deciding to go into business, he was rehired by his previous employer on a short-term contract, which ended up being three years.
When Mr Pearman turned 61, the time was right for him to go into business.
Eight years on he runs a consulting firm in Australia and two in New Zealand but is winding down the Australian branch.
"Mostly because I couldn’t travel there and I’m coming up 70 ... I want to work less as well."
While he wants to work less, it has not stopped his enthusiasm for senior entrepreneurship.
His other hat is founding member and co-ordinator of Senior Entrepreneurs NZ (Dunedin).
He started the group after moving from Brisbane to Dunedin six and a-half years ago.
"I started playing with the idea because I was new to the city and didn’t know people, didn’t know how to connect with people, but I knew there was something happening in this space.
After some help from local people, the group launched five years ago.
Mr Pearman describes the group as a "loose network".
"I didn’t want to start an organisation with structure.
"Like we’re still not incorporated — we probably never will be ... We don’t have a bank account."
The idea was to do something different from what others within the entrepreneur ecosystem did, he said.
"So we don’t run workshops. If you want a workshop, you can go to the chamber (Otago Chamber of Commerce).
"There is no business cards stuck under your nose, nothing pitched at you.
"It’s not that type of group."
Mr Pearman can’t put a number on how many people are in the group and given its "loose" nature nor does he want to.
The group catches up at Dunedin’s Petridish on the fourth Thursday of every month but members get together at other times.
"Outside of that time there is a hell of a lot of coffee drunk."
Asked whether people questioned why he would want to go into business later in life, Mr Pearman said it was a "very, very common" comment.
Another one of Mr Pearman’s hats is as part of a five-year Massey University research project looking into senior entrepreneurship in New Zealand.
He called into question a stereotype called the "20 plus 40 plus 10 rule".
"It’s 20 years of educational training, 40 years of work and getting ahead and then 10-plus years of the golden dream retirement.
However, people were "living much longer, up to 25 years longer than what we did a hundred years ago".
"Yet we still use this model of you’re gonna pop your cogs at 70."
He was made a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to business and seniors in last year’s New Year’s Honours.
He believed employers in New Zealand overlooked the value seniors added to businesses, Mr Pearson said.
Share the Moment
That’s why, at the age of 61, he started "Share the Moment", a company that livestreams people’s special moments in life.
As Covid-19 brought events to a halt a casualty was the audio-visual (AV) industry, which Mr Baldwin had spent the best part of 30 years working in.
In June last year, he was made redundant and he did not know what to do next.
"Being 61 and trying to get back into the workforce is tough.
"The AV industry in Dunedin is so small, so it was a case of ‘what am I going to do?"’ he said.
At a job seminar, Mr Baldwin met Sue Graham, co-organiser of Senior Entrepreneurs, who invited him to one of the monthly meetings.
"I went to a couple of their meetings. I liked what I was hearing, liked the people I was meeting.
"Mainly because it’s not your classic networking group, where you get your insurance and sales people having breakfast together and telling us how great they are.
"It’s actually genuine people who want to help genuine people."
A five-day seminar run by Petridish called "LEGIT" which had a series of guest speakers talking about getting into business helped him focus on what he wanted to set up, Mr Baldwin said.
The idea for the livestreaming business came from a combination of factors: his background the AV industry, an interest in photography and his wife Robyn being a celebrant.
"She started up 18 months ago as a celebrant and that gave me an insight to think, ‘well, hang on, there is a need here, particularly with Covid travel’."
Asked if he had experience running a business, he said "basically, no, not really."
Mr Baldwin said the LEGIT course taught him a lot about running a business and the Senior Entrepreneurs had provided great encouragement.
Demand for the business had been "a bit hit and miss".
However, it was still in the start-up phase, so having quiet times was not worrying him yet.
"The busiest week we had was four events in one week, but sometimes we have none."
The most rewarding part of the job was sharing other people’s special moments, he said.
"However, financially it’s not that rewarding yet."
Starting the business required a big investment in equipment.
He started with just a camera and a laptop, but it quickly became obvious he needed more gear and he spent about $10,000 on new equipment.
The thought of the large investment was daunting.
"We are lucky because we are mortgage free, but we still have to make a dollar to live.
"But at the same time trying to find a job at 61, and only being involved in one industry for so long, it wasn’t an easy task."
He had applied for "quite a number of jobs" after being made redundant.
"I got shortlisted for a couple, but there was a lot I didn’t hear back from.
"To be honest, I was starting to get quite depressed, so that is why I joined up with the Senior Entrepreneurs."
