3 Successful Entrepreneurs  Who Started in Their 60s and Above

Tech start-ups springing up have some wizzes quarterbacking them. Their sheer number makes it feel it’s all their world. Nigeria had 3360 as of 2022. 

About that time, Microsoft said 150 million in total mushroomed around the world. Many of them would scale or pivot, and many others would collapse. But the founders still have years ahead to incubate better ideas and relaunch, and get seed funding. Unicorns are even a possibility for them.

Unlike the oldies on the wrong side of 60. Time’s their enemy, and the odds stack high against them. But some have defied these odds, built strong brands, and succeeded as they age.

Colonel Sander: KFC

At 65, Harland David Sanders launched KFC in Salt Lake City, Utah, Us, his dream business right from when he was six. KFC under his watch kept striving for everything a brand wanted, especially with its secret recipes. 

Sanders persevered, and forged the QSR into a company that was worth #2 million when he sold the franchise in 1964. By the time he died in 1980, Sander had a net worth of $10 million. 

PepsiCo snapped up the KFC franchise six years later from its then buyer, Nabisco, for $850 million.

Radha Daga: Triguni Eze Eats

At 69, Radha Daga heard the pin drop, and founded her company Triguni Eze Eats in Thiruverkadu, Chennai, India.  It sells ready-to-eat boxed meals on trains and planes, on Amazon and in retail outlets across the country. 

The last decade pummeled her company, especially during the covid-19 pandemic. It has however bounced back up now. Daga remains at the helm, rounding out the octogenarian corner at 81. 

As a private liability company, Triguni Eze, last year, had its authorized share capital standing at Rs. 100,000,000 and its paid up capital is Rs. 48,875,000. 

Ben Van Praagh: Natural Benyfit

He’s a serial entrepreneur. That tag sucks as far as he knows. But it fits an old man who started founding a business from 19–in south-east London, UK. Six,  still counting. The seventh one was a dog food company he founded at 74. Then he figured feeding dogs was enough. In 2014, at 75, he founded another one: Natural Benyfit.