Ana João Sepulveda outlines how 40+Lab is helping organisations and businesses to out-rival in supporting the ageing population and preparing for the silver economy
Disruptive Demographics is the current demographics, as for the first time in human history the proportion of seniors (65+) tends to be higher than that of young people. In this sense, the concept of active ageing appears as a way of promoting a positive, as well as socially integrative ageing process.
An Age-Friendly society is one where the conditions exist and are always being recreated, to allow an optimal ageing process with clear implications for the economy, because, among other things, it opens up new business opportunities. For this to be possible it is necessary that organisations understand how this demographic phenomenon affects their business and how they can best be suited, and effectively respond, to this reality. As well as, understand how to position themselves in the so called silver economy.
It is in this context that 40 + Lab is created in 2013 in Portugal, the only business strategy consulting firm specialised in the senior consumer, in the ageing process and in how it impacts any organisation’s business.
Our mission is to work with organisations and together place them at the forefront of the twenty-first-century economy, where ageing and longevity stand for much of most societies’ growth. Because of the senior market, as a promising market for business development, although a reality, is still a new concept to fully grasp, in Portugal and in several European countries, and it calls for organisations to adapt their policies and strategies, in order to satisfy a segment with specific and varied needs.
With potential consumers with needs and motivations often unmet, it’s up to organisations to fit their offer to the market, identifying these segments often untapped and easily capable to assure returns on future investments.
Although there are areas in which the impacts of a large proportion of senior consumers are noticed in a more significant way, the need to change how organisations look at their markets is transversal and not only limited to specific business areas, such as tourism or health.
Transforming ageing populations
In Portugal, we at 40+Lab are working for a growing transformation of towns in age-friendly cities, in close collaboration with various social and economic players, through structural consulting projects. It is a core work aimed, on one hand, to change mindsets and help economic and social agents to view the positive side of the silver economy, and on the other, to reflect upon the development of products, services and business offers, focusing on the diversity of segments within the macro age group of 50+.
To complement this effort in strategic consulting, we developed a new sphere of activity regarding human resources training. Here, with a specialised team, we give assistance to HR directors of public and private corporations in the development of an HR management policy that takes into account aspects related to the productivity of people 50+ and also retirement friendly processes.
At the individual level, we have an HR training offer (INNOVageing) especially design to empower all those who interact directly with consumers, particularly seniors. This project is the outcome of a partnership between 40+Lab and the Institute of Negotiation and Sales (INV). In this commercial environment, customer care should be adapted, as it cannot express signs of impatience or paternalism towards the elderly that might have greater difficulty in understanding the latest products and services linked, for example, to new technologies. The commercial spaces themselves should also have the adequate comfort conditions, in particular, the availability of rest areas, the product placement with easy access, among other situations, as stated by Ana Sepulveda, CEO of 40+Lab: “We should look at these people as normal consumers with specific characteristics,” she argues.
For all this knowledge, focused on the senior segment, 40+Lab becomes a strategic partner in the development of the silver economy in its various aspects. We act in a comprehensive method to assist companies wishing to develop a targeted approach to the population over 50, adapting their structures and offer to the undeniable demographic trends. For 40 + Lab, 2016 is a year of great prosperity and development where the internationalisation becomes a reality with the entry into the Brazilian market and other European markets as source of study. It is also the year we move forward with HR training for individuals who wish to think their new “half-life”, focusing on the rediscovery of individual talent, retirement planning and support senior (or intergenerational ) entrepreneurship projects.
Ana João Sepulveda
Managing Partner
40+ Lab
+351 964 648 186
ana.sepulveda@40maislab.pt
Please note: this is a commercial profile
