Wemimo Abbey grew up in the slums of Lagos, Nigeria. Struggling to secure a loan without a credit score, his mother borrowed money from a predatory lender at an exorbitant 400% interest rate. These challenges inspired Abbey and his Co-Founder, Samir, to launch Esusu. Esusu’s platform empowers renters to build credit through rent payments, offers property management analytics and provides rental assistance for financial stability. Recently valued at $1 billion in a $130 million Series B fundraising round. Abbey currently serves on the SEC Small Business Capital Formation Advisory Committee and Fannie Mae Affordable Housing Advisory Council, is a Commissioner and Executive Member on the Board of The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, and is Co-Chair of The Los Angeles County Museum (LACMA) Director Circle. Before Esusu, Abbey founded Clean Water for Everyone, delivering affordable clean water access to over 250,000 people in six countries. He also founded a data analytics company, which was acquired in 2014. In his early career, Abbey was a mergers and acquisitions consultant at PwC, working on deals valued at over $50 billion, and gaining experience with Accenture and Goldman Sachs. He was named to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, TIME100 NEXT List in 2023 and awarded EY Entrepreneur of the Year nationally. In 2021 and 2022, Goldman Sachs recognized him as one of the “100 Most Intriguing Entrepreneurs”. He graduated magna cum laude from the University of Minnesota with a BSc in Business Management and earned an MPA from New York University’s Robert F. Wagner Graduate School of Public Service.