More than 24 per cent of Warrnambool’s population is over the age of 60.
Warrnambool is an attractive retirement destination due to its aged and health care services, natural beauty and range of community groups and services.
Council is hosting two workshops to help businesses better cater for this growing segment of the community, with guest speaker Emma Dawson, CEO of Per Capita.
Ms Dawson said that an ageing population presented new opportunities for savvy businesses.
“We hear a lot about the burden of an ageing population but it can be a positive thing in and of itself. It means that people are living longer, healthier lives,” she said.
“From a business perspective, older people are remaining active consumers much later into their older age.
“They do things that all people like, but they have more time to do it.
“So the idea that retired people are sitting at home and only going out once a week or once a month is really getting out of date.
“All business that have customers will have older customers. We’ll be talking about a number of aspects of how you can make your business more accessible and more age friendly.
“Any business that has a customer base and is looking to attract more customers should come along.
“Certainly the ageing population means that there is a growing cohort of consumers in that older age bracket and we’ll be talking about what you can do to make your business attractive to them.”
Two identical forums will be held to cater for different trading hours, with one session on September 10 from 6.30pm-8pm and another on September 11 from 9.30am-11am.
Registration is free.
