BUILT AT THE CROSSING

When HPU alumnus Ben Eger decided to join the armed forces, it was not a straightforward decision. Having just become a U.S. citizen in his early 40s, he set out to do what many believed was not possible. He met with several recruiters who admired his drive and enthusiasm, but they could not move forward with his application due to program guidelines and age cutoff requirements. Eger does not give up easily. With persistence, he found a National Guard recruiter who welcomed him with support and open arms.

“I am very patriotic, and America means a great deal to me,” Eger shared. “Joining the National Guard and completing basic combat training was a challenge—one that I am proud to have accomplished. I was one of the oldest in basic combat training and met some outstanding people and new friends. It’s been nothing but positive.”

Eger is the kind of person who makes you want to pull up a chair and have a meaningful conversation. He is a real estate broker, brokerage owner, and founder of a real estate education platform where he trains and develops future agents. He is also the driving force behind the European Chamber of Commerce Hawaiʻi. He is preparing in his spare time, with the long-term intention, to pursue a J.D., aiming to complement his work as a real estate broker with legal expertise. But the story of how he got here—and why he continues moving forward at remarkable speed—begins far from Hawaiʻi, in a city and neighborhood whose very name foreshadowed everything he would become.

Eger was born and raised in Kassel, Germany, a city of about 200,000 people known for its sweeping parks and the celebrated documenta, one of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art exhibitions. It is also a city with bridges in its foundation. Kassel was founded more than a thousand years ago as a fortification at a crossing over the Fulda River. The bridge was not incidental. It was the reason the city existed at all.

Eger grew up in a neighborhood called Brückenhof. In German, it means “bridge estate,” a homestead built at the crossing. He did not just grow up near a bridge; he grew up on ground that has always been one.

“Growing up in Kassel, my dream was always America, since I was very little,” Eger said. “No one brought me to America, so I had to do it myself.”

Eger studied economics at university in Kassel, participated in a European exchange program that took him to France, Denmark, and beyond, and traveled widely as a student assistant. But Hawaiʻi was always the destination pulling at him. When he finally made the trip as part of a 15-credit exchange semester, he loved it so much he could not bring himself to leave. He applied to HPU’s Master of Arts in Strategic Communication program, later transferred into the MBA program, and began building a life from there.

“HPU has given me a lot and has altered the course of my life for the better,” Eger said. “I get emotional when I think about HPU and the gratitude I have for this university. My experiences there were—and still are—monumental.”

An HPU professor in the MBA program introduced Eger to the Rotary Club, where he would eventually earn a board seat. Through that network, he connected with an interior design firm, where he learned the business from the inside—working with owners, distributors, and vendors in the high-end appliance space. That experience laid the foundation for launching his own moving and appliance installation company in 2015, working with retailers to deliver and install products in customers’ homes.

One connection led to another.

Eger eventually transitioned into real estate, channeling the full weight of his experience into becoming a successful agent before founding ORPS Realty (Ohana Real Estate and Property Management Services Corporation). The name reflects his commitment to building an education-driven brokerage grounded in mentorship, leadership, and the values of ‘ohana: community, care, and long-term impact.

He also founded Hawaiʻi Real Estate License School (HRELS), where he teaches using extensive proprietary materials he developed to prepare students not only for the licensing exam, but for real-world success in the industry.

“Sharing knowledge makes me happy,” he said. “I see myself as a bridge of knowledge—connecting people to opportunity, education, and growth.”

That idea of the bridge appears in everything Eger builds. It is the foundation of the European Chamber of Commerce Hawaiʻi, an organization he founded to strengthen connections between Europe and the islands. It is reflected in his real estate school, where students come without a license and leave with a career. And it ties back to his childhood in Kassel, where the meaning of his neighborhood was never just a name, it was a direction.

For Eger, entrepreneurship is not about titles. It is about identifying what people need, sometimes before they realize it themselves.

“The number one thing an entrepreneur needs to remember is to find a need in society and address it,” Eger said.

That mindset was evident when he returned to HPU this April as a judge at the Second Annual John F. Scarpa Entrepreneurial Pathway Makerspace Competition. Eleven student teams presented working prototypes designed to solve real-world problems.

Eger stood across from students and asked the questions the world would eventually ask: What does this solve? Who needs it? Where does it go from here?

He knows what it is to stand in that position, to have an idea and need someone to believe in it. He was once the one making the case, a young man from Germany trying to find his footing in a place that had not yet made room for him.

HPU made room.

“The kindness that I received at HPU was incredible,” Eger says. “I will always remember that. That is what makes HPU special—the people and the values.”

Today, his life has expanded beyond business. His mother, who raised him in Kassel, moved to Hawaiʻi nearly 10 years ago to study English and be close to her son. Eger and his wife are now expecting twins—his first children—due to arrive in a few months, into a life he built from determination, vision, and belief.

“I am extremely proud of my wife. I love her, my family, and the twins we are expecting very much, and family is everything” he said. “In life, things happen at the right time. Be patient, strive for your goals, and trust your timing. Always approach life with harmony—within yourself and with your environment.”