Wesleyan Entrepreneurship Society, co-founded by Wesley Tan ’26 and Zachary Berkenkotter ’26, was among the 21 student organizations approved by the Wesleyan Student Assembly (WSA) Community Committee during the spring 2024 semester. While a quaint liberal arts college like ours isn’t particularly known for mass-producing Silicon Valley moguls, our administrators do boast about our school’s “practical idealism.” Echoing this vision, budding change-makers have created a community for entrepreneurial ventures in and beyond the University, revitalizing a dormant scene for aspiring founders. Here, we trace the past and present of entrepreneurship clubs on campus.

2006: WesEntrepreneurs

Before R. J. Julia took over in 2016, Broad Street Books was the University’s long-running bookstore. Challenging its monopoly was WesBooks, a business venture led by WesEntrepreneurs members Minji Ong ’08 and Iwan Djanali ’09.

As then-Features Editor Greg Dubinsky ’07 reported in an article on May 9, 2005, Ong and Djanali sought to compete by offering better prices for students’ textbooks through their WesBooks project.

“[At Broad Street Books], the books are too expensive and the buyback is bad,” Ong said. 

Not only did WesBooks sell textbooks for cheaper, its organizers promised that proceeds would go to IMPACT, a campus-based organization providing microfinancing services in Nepal.

“WesEntrepreneurs has lofty ambitions,” Dubinsky wrote.

Most of the WesEntrepreneurs members had little business experience before joining the organization and hoped to learn more about entrepreneurship through hands-on experience.

“Personally, I’m really interested in entrepreneurship despite the fact that it may not be my future career choice and the different aspects of entrepreneurship—market analysis, cooperation, trust, etc., that are important life skills,” Djanali said.

While neither WesBooks nor Broad Street Books exists today, the students’ signature buyback-and-sell concept might have paved the way for subsequent initiatives that improve student access to textbooks, including a book-selling website by Peter Frank ’12, the WSA’s Textbook Exchange Program, and the Resource Center’s First-Generation, Low-Income Textbook Library. 

2013–2016: WES2

When Katya Sapozhnina ’16 arrived on campus in 2012, Ong and Djanali’s WesEntrepreneurs club was no longer active. With an interest in business, Sapozhnina decided to fill the void herself and founded the Wesleyan Entrepreneurship Society (WES2), according to an article published on April 22, 2013 by then-Staff Writer Allegra Fradkin ’15. 

Sapozhnina described the club as a hub for ideas and expressed that the University provides the ideal platform for such clubs.

“Part of Wesleyan is finding what you’re interested in and figuring out how to bring that into the real world,” Sapozhnina said. “If I had this club anywhere else, it might just be a lot of people who want to make money. Here, people are actually really passionate and care about the world and want to give back.”

As Fradkin explained, WES2 aimed to foster an environment where members could pitch startup ideas, collaborate on entrepreneurial projects, engage in business-related opportunities, and enhance their public speaking and marketing skills. 

“WES2 is not the first club of its kind, but many of the others have expired upon their founders’ graduation,” Fradkin wrote in the article. “[Sapozhnina] hopes to keep it going for the next four years and start a mentorship program so that no one has to start again from square one.”

WES2 did prevail. Not only did the club host a student forum that helped incubate students’ ideas into executable pitches, then-Staff Writer Michelle Li ’16 also highlighted a speaker series that it kickstarted in an article published on Oct. 28, 2013.  

The inaugural speaker series featured Sapozhnina alongside Victor Goh ’16, the founder of WesKaraoke. Later renamed WesZone according to a report by then-Contributing Writers Justin Liew ’18 and Goh on May 2, 2016, Goh’s venture sought to collaborate with Usdan University Center to host monthly late-night karaoke. In addition to organizing campus-wide karaoke competitions, Goh also engaged with student groups to support cultural gatherings and private birthday parties.

As Li noted, WES2 had great success supporting startup ventures like Goh’s.

“Since the group’s creation, many members have formed their own startup companies,” Li wrote in the article.

In 2014, three WES2 members, Thatcher Eills ’17, Sebastian Cañizares ’17, and John-Henry Carey ’18, worked to connect entrepreneurial students across various disciplines for collaborative startup ventures. As then-Contributing Writer Hyunji Ward ’17 reported on Oct. 12, 2014, the trio was inspired by their struggles in finding programmers for startup projects over the summer, to address the challenge of finding collaborators.

“The goal is to create something where people can come in, be as involved or not involved as they want to be, and get something that they want out of the process,” Eills said.

In the 2016 article, Goh similarly stressed the importance of being open, creative, and bold for aspiring entrepreneurs among his peers.

“Don’t restrict what you do on campus to what is available,” Goh said. “If there is something you really want to pursue, try your utmost to make that a reality! Look for resources to achieve what you want to do, take charge of what you’re interested in, and who knows, you could come up with something totally new and original.”

2015–2021: Kai Wes 

WES2 was eventually absorbed by Kai Entrepreneurship Wesleyan (Kai Wes), led by Alex Garcia ’17 and Mika Reyes ’17. According to an article written by then-Staff Writer Kathy Yun ’17 on April 9, 2015, Garcia hoped to combat misconceptions about entrepreneurship on campus.

“We’re working hard to dispel the notion that entrepreneurship is only for so-called ‘tech’ people, or only for people with special skill sets,” Garcia wrote. “We really believe everybody should dip their toes in the entrepreneurial waters at least once.”

As the club leaders explained, “kai” encompassed multiple meanings, including 開始 (kaishi) or “to start” in Chinese, 改善 (kaizen) or a business philosophy stressing continual “improvement” in Japanese, and ไข่ (kai) or “egg,” which reflects new beginnings in Thai. 

Yun revealed exciting activities going on at Kai Wes, including a trip to New York City for 30 students who, despite different majors, shared an interest in entrepreneurship. Throughout the day, students connected with alumni at various tech companies, participated in panel discussions, and gained insights into their entrepreneurial experiences.

Besides hard skills, attendee Mia Deng ’17  also appreciated that the trip allowed her to learn the application of liberal arts education in entrepreneurial endeavors.

“This trip was eye-opening because all of us got to hear different stories about how each Wes alum transferred their Wesleyan experiences into the work they do in the tech field,” Deng wrote in an email to The Argus. 

Every spring, Kai Wes led a trip to Silicon Valley, where students had the opportunity to talk face-to-face with University alumni in entrepreneurial ventures and tech industries. Aiming to combat the troubling lack of diversity in those spaces, Kai Wes leaders helped connect dozens of students from marginalized backgrounds with alumni working at companies such as Pixar, Facebook (now Meta), Snapchat, and Google.

With the support from the Patricelli Center for Social Entrepreneurship (PCSE), Kai Wes also sponsored their own lecture series as another avenue for students to engage with entrepreneurs, according to an article by then-Contributing Writer Maile McCann ’18 on Oct. 8, 2015. In addition, on Sept. 15, 2016, then-Contributing Writer Miriam Zenilman ’20 reported on Kai Wes’ semester-long mentorship program, which paired University students with alumni in the industry.

 “Alums are the best people to be mentors because they know the culture at Wesleyan and they’ve been through that transition,” Kai Wes Co-President Mika Reyes ’17 wrote in an email to The Argus. “[It can provide a] similar kind of guidance to those who may not otherwise have the capacity to reach out to people in the industry.”

Kai Wes was not without controversy. During the fall 2015 semester, Kai Wes leaders were among those who proposed a drastic cut in funding for The Argus to increase the number of paid student worker positions across campus publications and reduce paper waste through digitization. A mockup, titled “The Future of Media,” was published on Kai Wes’ website, showcasing the entrepreneurs’ vision for a more sustainable campus media scene.

“In short: people over paper,” the website reads.

Evidently, Kai Wes’ proposal for a mostly digitized version of The Argus did not come through, despite WSA support for the resolution Garcia co-sponsored. Nevertheless, the club was commendable in fostering an open space on campus that encouraged a spirit of entrepreneurship in change-makers. 

The conducive environment it helped facilitate eventually came to fruition in a myriad of student ventures. Among them was OurCampus, the faculty review app co-created by Tyler Lederer-Plaskett ’21 and Rafael Goldstein ’21. According to an article by then-Staff Writer Oliver Cope ’23, published on Feb. 18, 2020, OurCampus was nominated for a Connecticut Entrepreneur Award for Best Venture.

“I just want to celebrate the whole idea of having students imagine solutions to the problems and opportunities at Wesleyan,” then-Director of PCSE Makaela Kingsley said. 

Unfortunately, Kai Wes fell into oblivion with the onset of the pandemic. The innovation it had led was exactly what Tan and Berkenkotter are seeking to bring back.

2024: Wesleyan Entrepreneurship Society

Like his predecessor Sapozhnina, Tan was motivated by the absence of an entrepreneurial club at the University and worked to start his own.

“I arrived at Wesleyan with some exposure to entrepreneurship from an internship at an EdTech startup in Southeast Asia,” Tan wrote in a message to The Argus. “Entrepreneurship has been important to me because I believe it’s really a vehicle for economic empowerment…. I was inspired to create a platform that merged the diverse fields of liberal arts with the dynamic world of startups.”

The new Wesleyan Entrepreneurship Society, or Wesleyan Entrepreneurs for short, has already hosted a variety of events in its first semester, inviting speakers such as founder of SantM shoes Min Santandrea ’97, founder of BX Studio Jacob Sussman ’17, and CEO of Hypothetical Brands Jason Feinberg ’99.

Tan highlighted the success of the club’s outreach efforts.

“We…manage a LinkedIn group with [1000+] entrepreneurs from Wesleyan,” Tan wrote.

In addition, the club has recently collaborated with the Gordon Career Center to organize a series of coffee chats with Feinberg. It also started an initiative called WesCollab, sharing a similar concept with WES2’s skill-match service. Through WesCollab, club members’ skill sets are paired with relevant startups to gain real-world professional experience.

Although the history of entrepreneurship at the University has not been the smoothest, it is hard to imagine what the campus would look like without this lineage of aspiring leaders in our midst. With their refreshed emphasis on collaboration and continuation, Wesleyan Entrepreneurs might just make it this time.

Baron Fisher ’26, a regular attendee of the new club’s speaker series, spoke highly of his experience.

“Listening to guest speakers has strengthened my understanding of entrepreneurship,” Fisher wrote in an email to The Argus. “The breadth of our guest speakers has shown me the diversity within the field of entrepreneurship…which [is] a testament to the wide-ranging opportunities in the field…. I am excited to see more amazing guest speakers come to Wesleyan through [Wesleyan Entrepreneurs].”

Yifei Zhao ’25, one of the current leaders of OurCampus, has been impressed by the group’s ability to connect students and nurture new organizations.

“[Wesleyan Entrepreneurs] has been steadfast in bridging the gap between aspiring students and established entrepreneurs,” Zhao wrote in an email to The Argus. “Through our partnership with WesCollab, we’ve not only heightened our visibility but have also connected with many like-minded individuals on campus. By giving student startups more exposure, [Wesleyan Entrepreneurs] has catalyzed a surge in entrepreneurial spirit, fostering a dynamic ecosystem for Wesleyan startups.”

Eliana Bloomfield ’25, co-founder of Concussion Box, a nonprofit that aims to connect people with concussions to each other and provide support during a time that can often be isolating, concurred.

“[Wesleyan Entrepreneurs] did a great job of facilitating connections between student organizations and students who want to get involved,” Bloomfield wrote in an email to The Argus.

Administrators have also noted the club’s potential and offered support as they embark on this work. Director of the PCSE Ahmed Badr ’20 commended the new club.

“[Wesleyan Entrepreneurs] is dedicated to building a thriving community of leaders, practitioners, and collaborators across Wesleyan,” Badr wrote in an email to The Argus. “We look forward to amplifying this mission and working closely with the group as they chart the next chapter of entrepreneurship on campus.”

Garcia, the former president of Kai Wes, who is now the general manager of the Taiwan and Korean branch office of Aceolution Global Inc., offered his best wishes to the students.

“I think it’s wonderful that post-Covid the entrepreneurship scene at Wesleyan is springing back to life with events, clubs, and startups,” Garcia wrote in an email to The Argus. “Really looking forward to seeing continued student engagement with alumni including those of us that led entrepreneurship groups in the past and are now founders or leaders within startups around the world. Wishing the Wes Entrepreneurship team the best as they carry on the torch of student led entrepreneurship groups!”

Sida Chu can be reached at schu@wesleyan.edu.

Francisca Wijaya can be reached at fwijaya@wesleyan.edu. 

“From the Argives” is a column that explores The Argus’ archives (Argives) and any interesting, topical, poignant, or comical stories that have been published in the past. Given The Argus’ long history on campus and the ever-shifting viewpoints of its student body, the material, subject matter, and perspectives expressed in the archived article may be insensitive or outdated, and do not reflect the views of any current member of The Argus. If you have any questions about the original article or its publication, please contact Head Archivists Sida Chu at schu@wesleyan.edu and Maggie Smith at mssmith@wesleyan.edu.