Do Gender and age Influence Entrepreneurs' Orientation Towards Sustainable Business?

During the last few decades, researchers and policy makers have begun aiming and channeling their attention, efforts and hopes towards sustainable entrepreneurship. Thus, new businesses have increasingly started considering the interests and needs of all involved parties, in order to promote innovation for the development of new products, processes and sustainable working methods. This focus on innovation has contributed to the "creative destruction" of conventional methods, market structures and consumption patterns, whilst also being a source of/for competitive advantage. These concerns bring forth key questions which are necessary to be answered in order to develop a sustainable economy, i.e.: Are people who are concerned with environmental or social issues able to initiate successful (or at least functional) start-ups? Do industrious individuals see sustainability as a factor influencing the success chances of their business? Usually, the common opinion is that entrepreneurs endowed with high human capital are more involved in green entrepreneurship, but there is consistent empirical evidence that points to the fact that many successful "green" projects combine social involvement, the desire to make the world a better and cleaner place whilst maximizing profit and profit goals. In this paper, by using data from a survey-based research among a considerable number of start-ups from around the world, which was made available by the Entrepreneurship Database Program (EDP), we have analyzed the connections between sustainable impact, age and gender of entrepreneurs. We have found a relatively low intention of new, ambitious business owners to focus on sustainable areas, and if they do focus on such areas, this interest is focused towards sectors that can provide them with a consistent and immediate return (e.g. waste management). In terms of gender and age, it seems that women and middle-aged individuals are more in favor of focusing on sustainability and environmental protection issues.