Ben Minges ’11 gets real with business students about the entrepreneur's life.

On a rainy Thursday evening, six student entrepreneurs were clustered around a conference table in McIntyre Hall, swiveling lightly in their chairs. They were waiting for a Skype call from Ben Minges ’11, co-owner of Copra, a coconut-product company based in New York and Bangkok, and something of a legend in Professor Lynnette Claire’s entrepreneurship class. Not long ago he’d been just like them, but now he’d made it.

“Is that the food?” asked Adam Braude ’20, eyeing the snacks on the table. Lynnette tossed him a packet of wafers she’d picked up at a Russian market. “Adam is our snackretary,” she said. Then the Skype call rang.

Ben’s face loomed large on the projector screen, like the Wizard peering down at Oz. “Ben! You look more grown up!” Lynnette exclaimed.