UrbanGeekz 50: Fintech

Wemimo Abbey – Esusu

From living paycheck to paycheck in Lagos, Nigeria, Wemimo Abbey moved to the United States and founded a Black-owned unicorn. He graduated Magna Cum Laude in Business Management from the University of Minnesota, Crookston and a Master of Public Administration & Non-Profit Management Policy, International Relations and Affairs from the New York University.

When Abbey and his family arrived in the States, they were excluded from the traditional financial system and had to turn to a 400% plus interest rate loan to pay for his school. Abbey understood first-hand the power of community savings, and digitized the process by starting Esusu.

The financial technology company helps low-to-moderate-income households use their on-time rent payments to build credit. In January 2022, Esusu was valued at $1 billion in its Series B round of fundraising led by the SoftBank Vision Fund. It’s one of a handful of Black or African-American companies that’s achieved unicorn status or a valued at over $1 billion.

Abbey’s early career includes roles at Accenture, Goldman Sachs, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Beyond Esusu, Abbey served as a Queen’s Young Leader at the University of Cambridge in 2016 and Public Policy and International Affairs Fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.

Wole Coaxum – MoCaFi

Wole Coaxum is a passionate supporter of underbanked entrepreneurs with more than 20 years of experience in corporate banking. He began his career at Citigroup, working in investment banking, asset management, insurance, and corporate functions. Much later he served as Managing Director at JPMorgan Chase and held leadership positions in Business Banking, Card Services, and Treasury & Securities Services.

After seeing police brutality and racial bias when Black teenager Michael Brown was killed by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri in 2014, Coaxum left his corporate career to end racial wealth inequality. Mobile Capital Finances (MoCaFi) was launched in 2016 to provide financial services to suit the specific needs of people of color.

By 2020, the platform had enrolled more than 25,000 users, raised millions in seed rounds, and partnered with major multinational companies. Most recently, MoCaFi was listed on the Forbes Fintech 50, Most Innovative Fintech Companies of 2021.

Tanya Van Court – Goalsetter

Tanya Van Court is perhaps one of the most successful black female founders in the United States FinTech space right now. Through Goalsetter, she is using her skills and experience in digital media and education to simplify financial freedom for black kids and families.

Van Court launched the Goalsetter app in 2016, to teach historically disadvantaged people to secure their financial freedom. The mobile banking, debit card, and investing app focuses on educating black kids and their families, college-bound young adults, and women on finances through fun games and quizzes.

Goalsetter uses pop culture references like GIFs, memes, and partnerships with celebrities to make learning about generational and personal wealth more entertaining. Van Court was listed on Inc.’s 2022 Female Founders 100 list. She also made Forbes “The Next 1000” in 2021 for the finance category.

The Stanford University graduate with two engineering degrees was born and raised in Oakland, California, but currently resides in NYC’s Brooklyn. Before launching Goalsetter, Van Court ran preschool and parenting digital products at Nickelodeon, where she led NickJr.com and Noggin.com, along with Nickelodeon’s parenting initiatives.

Ham Serunjogi – Chippercash

Ham Serunjogi is a serial entrepreneur and problem solver who is defying the odds to solve teething problems in Africa. The successful entrepreneur worked for Facebook before starting his own company, which has quickly become one of Africa’s unicorns.

Chipper Cash is a venture-capital-backed FinTech company that provides solutions for merchants to process online and in-store payments. In addition, they have software that enables instant, zero-fee, cross-border money transfers.

Chippercash launched it in 2018 and raised $300 million, hitting a peak valuation of $2.2 billion in November 2021 after it raised Series C funding. Chipper Cash has attracted investment from major players, including the crypto exchange FTX, Ribbit Capital, and Bezos Expeditions, the investment vehicle of Jeff Bezos, the world’s second-richest person.

In 2023, Serunjogi was named to Forbes’ 30 under 30 list in the finance category. He was also appointed as an inaugural member of the US Advisory Council on African diaspora engagement by President Joe Biden in September 2023.

Sheena Allen - Capway

Sheena Allen’s mission is to provide equitable financial services and serve unbanked communities. She is an entrepreneur, public speaker, and author, best known as the founder and CEO of mobile bank CapWay and Sheena Allen Apps.

Sheena started her first tech company, Sheena Allen Apps, in 2011 during her senior year in college and bootstrapped the startup to generate millions of mobile app downloads. In 2019, she started executing her second tech startup, CapWay, which gave Allen the title of the youngest female in America to own and operate a digital bank.

She is also a 2018 Business Insider Under 30 Innovator, Vanity Fair: The Future Innovators Index 2019, Forbes 30 Under 30, Inc. Magazine 30 Under 30, and listed on the 2019 Inc. Female Founders 100 list. Allen has also released a print book titled The Starting Guide about her early journey in tech, being a non-technical founder, and business 101 tips.