Justice Capitalism: What Esusu's Samir Goel Taught Me About Doing Well and Doing Good

I have had the privilege of being an early investor in Esusu, so I have watched Samir Goel and his co-founder Wemimo Abbey build something rare: a fintech company that has stayed true to its founding values nine years in, while scaling into one of the most important financial inclusion companies in America. Esusu helps renters build credit simply by paying rent on time, and in doing so, is addressing a wealth gap that has kept millions of working families locked out of the financial system.

I sat down with Samir for a conversation that started with spirituality and ended up touching nearly everything: what it actually means to build a values-driven business, why trust has to be earned through action, and how “doing well” and “doing good” were never supposed to be in tension in the first place.

Here are the parts of our conversation that stuck with me.

Samir didn’t set out to build a mission statement that would just live on a wall. Early on, he and Wemimo wrote what they call the Esusu Credo — their version of a founding constitution — and at its center is a concept they call justice capitalism.

“It’s a reimagined economic system where we actually think about how business impacts every member of society. It’s not just about capital, but it’s also about your team, your collaborators, your partners, and ultimately the constituents that are most impacted by the product or service you built.”

For Esusu, that starts with renters. The company’s vision is to unleash the power of data to bridge the racial wealth gap; its mission is to dismantle barriers to housing for working families. And critically, Samir doesn’t see the moral case and the market case as separate arguments.

One of the most striking threads in our conversation was about trust — specifically, how you earn it with people the financial system has repeatedly failed.

Esusu’s first version of the product asked renters to hand over sensitive financial information to a company they’d never heard of. It didn’t work. “It’s like, hey Jenna, we just met. Can I have your Social Security number?” Samir said. People said no, understandably.

So they rebuilt the model. Instead of asking renters to trust them first, Esusu partners with landlords, reaches renters through that existing relationship, and then proves itself through action before asking for anything in return.

It’s a principle that echoes across traditions — I mentioned to Samir a line from the Bahá’í writings: “Let deeds, not words, be your adorning.” He connected it immediately to Esusu’s own operating principles, and to a broader truth about leadership: people don’t believe what you say about yourself. They believe what you do.

Samir pushed back on a framing that’s common in real estate and, frankly, in a lot of business: that landlords and renters are adversaries.

Esusu’s insight was to realign incentives instead of picking a side: a financially healthy renter pays on time, stays longer, and takes better care of the property — which directly benefits the landlord’s bottom line and property value. Everyone wins, including the credit bureaus who can now underwrite more people, and the broader economy that benefits when more people can access credit, cars, and mortgages.

Perhaps the line that will stay with me longest from this conversation was Samir’s distinction between companies that do impact and companies where impact is the business model:

He is skeptical of impact as an add-on — a corporate social responsibility check written after the “real” business is done. Not because that generosity isn’t good, but because it’s fundamentally different from a company whose financial success and social impact move in lockstep, with no trade-off to negotiate.

I asked Samir what he would tell others trying to build at the intersection of spirituality, business, and investing. Three things stood out:

1. Just start. Don’t let the scale of the vision paralyze you.

2. Don’t do it alone. “Nothing worth doing is worth doing alone.” Having the right people around you — a co-founder, a partner, mentors is essential.

3. Don’t let urgency override intentionality. “If something doesn’t feel right, that’s worth listening to... don’t let urgency take away your intentionality.” He named this as one of the most common mistakes he sees in founders and leaders: not a lack of good intentions, but letting speed crowd out reflection.

Off the business questions, I loved hearing how Samir stays grounded personally: a daily run, deliberately protected downtime, and leaning on the people closest to him — his co-CEO Wemimo, and his wife Julie — to keep each other honest on the days when they’re not at their best.

“We all have good days, we all have bad days, but that keeps us grounded and modulated, making sure we’re on the path we want to be on.”

Samir and the Esusu team are proof that “doing well” and “doing good” were never actually opposites. Justice capitalism, as Samir describes it, isn’t a slogan. It’s a discipline: codify your values, tie them to how you measure success, and let your actions do the talking.

Check out the full podcast link here.

Look forward to hearing your thoughts,

Jenna