Wemimo Abbey & Samir Goel, Esusu - Expanding access to credit using on-time rental payments
Jan 22, 2024
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Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, co-CEOs of Esusu, discuss expanding financial access, their principled leadership, and lessons learned. They highlight the challenges of persuading credit bureaus to accept rental data and the power of collective resources. The speakers express gratitude for their work and reflect on the journey of building a company.
Esusu has successfully unlocked $21.9 billion in new credit activity for renters, enabling them to establish credit scores and improve them significantly.
Esusu provides three core services: reporting rent payments to credit bureaus, offering zero percent interest loans to renters in financial emergencies, and helping partners quantify their social impact through data-driven metrics.
Deep dives
The Importance of Financial Access and Stability for Renters and Property Owners
Essusu is a leading FinTech platform that focuses on providing rent reporting, property management analytics, and rental assistance to unlock financial access and stability for renters and property owners in the US. They have successfully unlocked $21.9 billion in new credit activity for Essusu renters, enabling 107,000 renters to establish credit scores for the first time and helping many more improve their scores. In addition, Essusu was valued at $1 billion in a recent funding round and named one of Forbes' most innovative FinTech companies. The founders of Essusu have strong backgrounds in social entrepreneurship and have successfully built a company that combines profit with purpose.
The Services Offered by Essusu to Support Financial Access
Essusu provides three core services. First, they ensure that rent payments are reported to the credit bureaus, allowing renters to establish and improve their credit scores. Second, when renters fall behind on rent, Essusu offers zero percent interest loans paid directly to the landlord, helping renters navigate financial emergencies and maintain housing stability. And finally, Essusu helps their partners tell their story and quantify their social impact through data-driven metrics. They also provide residents with financial literacy resources and other services. These services contribute to Essusu's mission of making financial access and stability more accessible for all.
The Founding Story of Essusu and the Problem They Address
The founders of Essusu, Samir Go and Wemimo Abbey, both have personal experiences that shaped their mission. Samir's immigrant background and his parents' struggle to establish credit in the US inspired him to create a platform that would make financial access easier for all. Wemimo's experience growing up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria, and facing financial challenges when immigrating to the US motivated him to address the barriers faced by those with limited financial resources. Essusu aims to bridge the gap in financial access by providing rental data to credit bureaus, helping renters establish credit scores, and navigating the $4.1 trillion rental market.
Essusu's Fundraising Journey and Future Vision
Essusu's fundraising journey has had its challenges, with over 300 rejections from venture capitalists before securing investments from prominent individuals like Serena Williams and raising $130 million in a recent series B round. The founders attribute their success to maintaining mental resilience, building strong relationships, being prepared with a solid data room and financials, and raising capital opportunistically. Looking ahead, Essusu aims to become a marketplace of quality financial products, providing access to mortgages, auto loans, and other financial services. Their vision is to empower renters to fulfill their financial goals, from establishing credit to building wealth, and to continue making a positive impact on society.
Russell Matambo hosts Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel, co-CEOs and co-founders of Esusu, a leading Fintech platform that reports on-time rental payments to credit bureaus so renters can build credit while building owners and property managers maximise their portfolio health.
They discuss how Esusu is expanding financial access in the US, Esusu’s growing pains and lessons learnt along the way, Samir and Wemimo’s principled and purposeful leadership as Co-CEOs, and much more!
About Wemimo and Samir:
Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel are co-CEOs and co-founders of Esusu. Esusu is the leading Fintech platform providing rent reporting, property management analytics, and rental assistance to unlock financial access and stability for renters and property owners in the US. In 2023 alone, Esusu unlocked $21.9 Billion in new credit activity for Esusu renters, by enabling 107,000 renters establish credit score for the first time while helping many more with existing credit scores increase theirs by at least 36 points. Most recently, Esusu was valued at $1 billion in their $130 million Series B round.
Prior to Esusu, both Samir and Wemimo founded social enterprises and had successful corporate careers. Samir Co-Founded Transfernation, a nationally recognized non-profit that used technology to direct over 5 million pounds of excess food to nearly 2.5 million people in underserved communities across New York City. Wemimo on the other hand founded Clean Water for Everyone, a global social venture providing affordable access to clean water for 250,000+ people in six countries. He also founded a data analytics company gathering data on NGOs operating in Africa, which was acquired in 2014.
Collectively Wemimo and Samir have been featured in over a dozen major business publications including but not limited to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30, the 2022 Fortune 40 Under 40 and the 2023 TIME 100 lists.
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As always, for more Fintech insights and opportunities to collaborate, please find us below:
WFT LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/wharton-fintech-club/
WFT Twitter: twitter.com/whartonfintech
WFT Blog: medium.com/wharton-fintech
WFT Home: www.whartonfintech.org
Russell's LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/russell-matambo-cfa-a5900039/
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