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Entrepreneurship through intergenerational crowdfunding

The aim of this project is to explore the effectiveness of inter-generational entrepreneurial activities amongst third-age community through crowdfunding project in Malaysia.

Objectives:

  • to investigate the support required to develop entrepreneurial cognitive skill set for the third-age community,
  • to explore the third-age community learning processes in developing their entrepreneurial mindset through crowdfunding project,
  • to better understand the impact of inter-generational community entrepreneurial activities in building sustainable social functioning group.

Demographic change has been identified as one of the ‘Grand Challenges’ worldwide, with the pace of ageing currently fastest in the developing world. These trends throw up major social, economic and political challenges. The pursuit of sustainable development through education is of key importance, as education empowers the most vulnerable – in this case, the Third Age group – to enable them to participate fully in their local communities’ social lives while keeping economically active and financially independent, allowing them to have an inclusive personal and social well-being.

Previous research has shown that third-age adults are happiest when they stay active and maintain social interactions. Focusing on the support required to develop their cognitive skill set, empirical research about third-age entrepreneurs should be extended, by embedding the intergenerational activities with local university students to contribute towards the actual implementation of third-age entrepreneurial activities. We achieve this by supporting third-age potential entrepreneur based in the Elderly Activity Center (PAWE), Putrajaya, Malaysia.

The project is a 10 month action research programme, where data will be collated to support the advancement of the entrepreneurial mindset framework for third age community.

Our project is aligned with the Sustainability Development Goals:

  • 4.3 ensure equal access for all to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary education, including university
  • 4.4 substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship
  • 8.3 Promote development-oriented policies that support productive activities, decent job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small- and medium-sized enterprises, including through access to financial services
  • 17.1 Strengthen domestic resource mobilization, through international support
  • 17.17 Encourage and promote effective public, public-private and civil society partnerships, building on the experience and resourcing strategies of partnerships
research team

Supported by: Jabatan Kebajikan Masyarakat Malaysia (Department of Social Welfare, Malaysia)

Project partners: Pusat Activity Warga Emas (PAWE), Putrajaya, and Social Innovation Movement (SIM)


Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Professor Ainurul Rosli
Professor Ainurul Rosli - I am a Team Coach and an Entrepreneurial Mindset Practitioner (EMP). I am an avid believer in the importance of university-industry-community interaction. I am part of Team Academy (Tiimiakatemia, Finland), a global team-learning community that aims to equip young adults with the skills, knowledge and personal qualities required to run their own businesses while pursuing a degree. I specialise in entrepreneurship, inter-firm collaboration, innovation strategy and knowledge exchange. This enables me to be part of fantastic organisations and projects that embrace collaboration and co-creation to support their innovative community engagement initiatives. Prior to joining Brunel, I was a co-Director for MSc Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Enterprise Development at the University of Westminster. I also had worked in University of Wolverhampton and Birkbeck University of London, where I gained my PhD in 2013.  I have an MSc in Operational Research from London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), and a Bachelor in Financial Engineering (Hons) from Multimedia University, Malaysia. My previous professional experience includes various entrepreneurship, strategy and innovation consulting work in London and abroad. I also have worked for several years with the R&D arm of a telecommunication company in Malaysia. I have secured major grants from Quintin Hogg Trust, European Life Long Learning Programme, British Academy of Management and British Academy/Leverhulme to name a few. I also have won several competitive awards including a grant by the Malaysian government towards my PhD research; Ronald Coase Institute Fellowship and Dynamics of Institutions and Markets (DIME) Fellowship to name a few. My work with my colleagues has won the Best Innovation paper awards at British Academy Management (BAM) 2015. 

Related Research Group(s)

building

Strategy Entrepreneurship and International Business - Our themes of research range from entrepreneurial and internationalisation strategies of small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to inward and outward investment by large enterprises and supra-national governance.

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Entrepreneurship and Sustainability - Our focus is on how individuals, businesses and societies can tap into creative and entrepreneurial flair to develop innovative solutions, in order to not only create economic value, but also solve social and environmental problems.


Partnering with confidence

Organisations interested in our research can partner with us with confidence backed by an external and independent benchmark: The Knowledge Exchange Framework. Read more.


Project last modified 09/01/2024