The great-grandson of a successful Black real estate developer who used his influence to integrate his community, fintech entrepreneur Wole Coaxum carries on his family’s dream by bringing financial services to the unbanked across America. After a devastating year, Christmas came early for 4,000 financially hurting residents of Honolulu. Early last December, they received personalized Mastercard debit cards emblazoned with the city’s iconic beach and high-rises and, more importantly, loaded with $500 to be used for food purchases at grocery and convenience stores. Despite rollout glitches (some residents complaining of activation problems), these refillable cards represented another successful milestone for Wole C. Coaxum, a 51-year-old fintech and social entrepreneur sitting in New York, some 5,000 miles away. Back in 2015, he left a job at JPMorgan Chase as head of sales to found MoCaFi—short for “Mobility Capital Finance”—a mobile-first banking startup that aims to address the racial financial inclusion and wealth gaps. After some research, Coaxum reached a surprising conclusion: the best way to reach those with the least access to traditional financial services would be to do it by partnering with local governments and nonprofits. His idea was to create a unified no fee account that could deliver government benefits and local discounts as well as digital banking services such as direct payroll deposit, check scanning, a debit card (allowing ATM withdrawals as well as purchases), bill payment, credit history building, financial coaching and eventually, loans. Helping Honolulu to get Co… Click below to read the full story from Forbes
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