{"id":21332,"date":"2024-12-21T10:37:27","date_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:37:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=21332"},"modified":"2024-12-21T10:40:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T10:40:44","slug":"three-nigerians-feature-on-forbes-2024-list-of-wealthiest-black-americans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=21332","title":{"rendered":"Three Nigerians Feature on Forbes 2024 List of Wealthiest Black Americans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"p1\">Three Nigerians have been recognized on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.forbes.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Forbes<\/a>\u2019 2024 list of the most powerful, influential, and wealthiest Black Americans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The individuals, Wemimo Abbey, Tope Awotona, and Adebayo Ogunlesi, are all based in the United States and have made significant contributions in their respective industries.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Wemimo Abbey, 32,<\/span><span class=\"s2\"> is the Co-founder and Co-CEO of Esusu, a New York-based fintech company that helps renters build their credit histories by reporting rent payments to credit bureaus. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Forbes reports that over 20,000 properties offer Esusu\u2019s services, and approximately 1.8 million Americans have benefited from the platform. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In 2022, Esusu raised $130 million in funding, achieving a $1 billion valuation. Originally from Lagos, Nigeria, Abbey\u2019s journey was marked by determination, with his mother selling her wedding ring to support his education and travel to the U.S. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Prior to founding Esusu, Abbey worked at PwC as a mergers and acquisitions consultant and co-founded a non-profit and a data analytics startup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Tope Awotona, 43,<\/span><span class=\"s2\"> is the Founder and CEO of Calendly, a scheduling software startup valued at $3 billion by private investors in 2021. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Born in Lagos, Awotona moved to Atlanta at age 15. He studied computer science before switching to business and management information at the University of Georgia. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">After working as a salesperson for several tech firms and launching several unsuccessful startups, Awotona founded Calendly in 2013 using his 401(k) savings. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The frustration of scheduling meetings through multiple emails inspired him to create the software. By 2021, Calendly had raised $350 million, and Awotona\u2019s net worth is now estimated at $1.4 billion.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s1\">Adebayo Ogunlesi, 70,<\/span><span class=\"s2\"> is the Chairman and Co-founder of Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP), a New York-based private equity firm. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">In October 2024, BlackRock acquired GIP for $12.5 billion in cash and shares, with Ogunlesi retaining his role as chairman and CEO. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">Forbes estimates his net worth at $1.7 billion. A graduate of Oxford University and Harvard Law School and Business School, Ogunlesi has had an illustrious career. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall, worked at Cravath, Swaine &amp; Moore as an attorney, and spent over two decades as an investment banker at Credit Suisse before co-founding GIP in 2006.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><span class=\"s2\">The Nigerians join other prominent names on the list, including Dr. Dre, LeBron James, Michael Jordan, Beyonc\u00e9, Jay-Z, and Gary Linnen, further cementing their impact on the global stage.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Three Nigerians have been recognized on Forbes\u2019 2024 list of the most powerful, influential, and wealthiest Black Americans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21333,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9740,2065,9739],"class_list":["post-21332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-2024-list-of-wealthiest-black-americans","tag-forbes","tag-three-nigerians"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21332"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21335,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21332\/revisions\/21335"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21333"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}