Up to 30% of HEC Paris' EMBA participants are now people in their 40s or 50 who want to start their own businesses, up from less than 10% just five years ago. The online Masters in Innovation and Entrepreneurship has participants ranging in age from late 20s to their early 70s.
“People are retiring later or not retiring at all, but they want to do something different, often some business or not-for-profit venture that they’ve always wanted to do, but never had the time,” says Ron Duerksen, executive director of executive education for degree and certificate programs at HEC. “More senior people also like the interaction with the younger generation and vice-versa. Intergenerational exchange and learning benefits both the younger and the older person.”