Entrepreneur Of The Year® US National Award winners

Doing well while doing good

Growing up as children of immigrants, Wemimo Abbey and Samir Goel saw how simply meeting a family’s daily needs can be a struggle and how building long-term financial stability can seem impossible. When the two veteran entrepreneurs met at the Clinton Global Initiative, Abbey, born in Nigeria, and Goel, whose parents emigrated from India just before he was born, connected through stories of struggles they both had experienced, and Esusu was born.

Abbey and Goel started Esusu to bridge the racial wealth gap by giving people who are often ignored by the financial system new opportunities to build their credit history. Traditionally, credit reports only reflect delinquent rental payments — not those paid on time — making it difficult for responsible low- and middle-income families to establish credit history. Esusu addressed this challenge by creating a technology platform to leverage data solutions like rent reporting and by partnering with large multifamily real estate owners and operators to report on-time rental payment information to national credit bureaus.

Esusu has grown to be the leading financial technology platform for empowering residents and improving property performance. It supports reporting of rental payment data to credit bureaus for more than 1 million renters across 3.5 million rental units in 50 states. Abbey and Goel have since expanded to helping families bridge short-term financial difficulties through the company’s zero-interest rent relief program. And their new Esusu Renters Marketplace is a one-stop shop for renters to learn about renter services, including insurance and credit-building opportunities.

Thanks to Esusu, tens of thousands of previously financially invisible families now have credit scores that can help them qualify for car loans and mortgages from major financial institutions and build financial wellbeing. Abbey and Goal look forward to the long-term impact their efforts will have on fighting discrimination and giving millions of families a new chance at living the American Dream.