In the midst of standardized testing, college searching and intensive course loads, one Malibu High School (MHS) student has gone above and beyond to focus on his own entrepreneurial business.
MHS junior Bennett Cohen has been working hard to create his new project: Hygee, a self-sanitizing phone case that he plans to launch soon.
“Ever since I was little, I’ve loved to build stuff and I constantly think of new ideas and inventions,” Cohen stated. “As for my most recent idea, I’ve created a phone case and screen protector that uses both indoor light and sunlight to kill germs that are on your phone.
“Fun fact: 92 percent of people use their phones while in the bathroom,” he added.
Cohen, a Maryland native, has always loved learning new things — in addition to cars, cooking, and his two 185-pound dogs. Growing up just outside of Washington, D.C., Cohen moved to Malibu in January 2015. He quickly became a part of the Malibu community, joining the varsity tennis team, as well as finding a role as an active leader on the Mock Trial team and in the Model United Nations club, among other things. He is currently in his second year at Malibu High School.
“I liked the smaller school atmosphere and how everyone is more relaxed and very accepting,” Cohen said.
Cohen also noted how the Malibu High community helped foster his entrepreneurial ambitions.
“I truly think that the personability of the smaller high school means that I can get help from a lot of my teachers often,” Cohen noted. “Shoutout to Mr. Tucker [a MHS middle school science teacher] who has helped me out so much in the process.”
It was not long after moving to Malibu that he began work on his Hygee project. Inspired by his own experiences with cleanliness, Cohen explained that the idea for Hygee stemmed from the poor sanitation of phone cases of his family, peers and himself.
“I’m a huge germaphobe and hate getting sick — like everyone — and every day when I put my phone down at tennis or on my desk at school, I knew there were so many germs that could get me sick. So, of course, I knew I had to create something, and I called it Hygee,” Cohen explained.
In addition to his own hard work and the helpful Malibu community, Cohen received a lot of support from his family, specifically his eldest brother, Nick.
“I’ve actually had my older brother who is a junior at USC [University of Southern California] help me along the way,” Cohen said.
In fact, he attributes part of his inspiration to becoming an entrepreneur on his two older brothers, Nick and Dylan, both of whom attend USC.
“For a more personal role model, I’d like to grow up to be like my older brothers in their work ethic and determined mindset,” he noted.
He also added that he looks up to CEO and inventor of Tesla, Inc., Elon Musk, for his incredible accomplishments in the fields of technological inventions and innovation.
“My role model for Hygee is Elon Musk because he is a revolutionary who changed the world through hard work,” Cohen said.
As he focuses to balance academics and extracurriculars in hopes of attending college, Cohen continues to devote his time to helping Hygee become a success.
“The end goal, of course, is to have Hygee selling everywhere in the world and make the world a clean, germ-free place,” Cohen said.
He plans on launching his website soon at hygeephone.com.
“Stay tuned for the launch of Hygee, and keep clean,” Cohen said.
