Ben Murphy ’24 is set to spend a year in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, working in the Management and Research Department for telecommunications company MobiCom, after earning a Princeton in Asia (PiA) Fellowship.
The fellowship brings him a step closer to the goal he’s pursued since his first day at CC—a career combining his passion for development work and entrepreneurship. And Murphy credits his “unique” education at CC, describing the Block Plan as “an opportunity to push yourself outside of your comfort zone.”
“In a way, the PiA Fellowship feels like an extra-long block,” he says, “an opportunity to immerse myself deeply in a place, subject, and culture, uninterrupted and undistracted by other responsibilities.”
The fellowship will offer valuable exposure to the international business world, Murphy says. He aims to work in social enterprise, which he says requires understanding both the nonprofit and business worlds.
At CC, Murphy worked on projects supporting economic development across Colorado. As a junior, he was named a 2023 Newman Civic Fellow for his project on turning parking garages into community spaces in Colorado Springs.
Across every project, Murphy is guided by his belief that a good business must have a purpose beyond profit.
After graduating with a degree in Business, Economics, and Society, Murphy moved to Kenya to work with the Western Organization for People Living with HIV/AIDS (WOPLAH). He supported livelihood initiatives focused on kitchen gardens and community banking, among others.
In Kotdwar, India, he is currently working on the American India Foundation’s Support Adolescent Health, Education & Livelihood Initiative (SAHELI) through a Banyan Impact Fellowship. He’s teaching digital literacy and STEM, which he says are fundamental to long-term economic opportunities. Since arriving in India in September 2025, Murphy has helped develop a digital market linkage for rural artisans to increase their income and access to new markets, and helped to redesign a digital literacy and English curriculum to boost student engagement.
His work in India continues until June 30, when he will return to the United States to prepare for his move to Mongolia’s vibrant capital.
While many PiA Fellowship applicants have distinct reasons for their top-choice country placements, Murphy does not. If someone asked him a year ago why he picked India, he says, he wouldn’t have had an answer. Immersing himself in a community and culture that he knew little about was transformative, he says—and he can’t wait to do it again.
“Over the past six months, I have found my ‘why’ in the schools I support every day, my coworkers who have become friends, the friendly people I meet walking through the city every day, and the diversity of languages and cultures that seem to change every 10km I drive,” Murphy explains. “For Mongolia, my lack of knowledge of the culture, places, and people within its borders is exactly why I want to go. I don't have a why, but I can’t wait to find it.”
