Four business plans for a graying population standout at business plan competition

The baby boomer market is so lucrative that entrepreneurs are literally competing to capitalize on it.

At the 2005 Boomer Business Summit, held recently in Philadelphia, 40 contestants vied for a $10,000 prize in the Boomer Business Plan Challenge. The finalists ranged from a company that makes a high-tech knee brace to a low-tech moving company.

The competition was organized by Santa Clara University, the American Society in Aging and Mary Furlong, a consultant to businesses that want to market to older people.

The stakes for the contestants are huge — more and more money is in the hands of people who are likely to spend on reading glasses rather than the latest computer game. People over 54 had more than twice the net assets of younger people in 2001, according to the most recent Federal Reserve data.

And they have needs that businesses have overlooked, according to David Yarnell, one of the judges at the competition. Yarnell said teenagers and young adults are already well served, so entrepreneurs should be focusing more attention on the needs of older people.

"It’s not as sexy, but people are realizing it’s a very, very powerful marketplace," said Yarnell, managing partner at venture capital firm BEV Capital in Stamford, Conn.

By Peter Svensson
Associated Press

Here’s a look at four of the finalists: http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,600134258,00.html