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BetaScore - Revolutionising Credit Access
Welcome to our Founder Spotlight series, where we showcase the brilliant minds behind the startups in the Black Valley accelerator programme.
In this blog, we’re spotlighting Josh Ojo, CEO and Founder of BetaScore. BetaScore was conceived to address struggles many migrants face when they move to a new country. As an innovative predictive analytics platform, it uses home credit history and transactional data to provide credit invisibles with access to credit and financial services.
Q: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and your startup?
Josh: Hi, I’m Josh, the CEO and Founder of BetaScore. I have a Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and I've spent the last 11 years working in the intersection of Finance & Technology.
I started working on the idea after I moved to the UK and I found it difficult to get accommodation because I didn't have any credit history. Thankfully my friend, and now co-founder, was able to stand in as a Guarantor for me. We initially didn’t believe the challenge was this large until we ran a survey and more than 65% of the respondents chose accommodation as the greatest challenge they faced when relocating to countries like the UK, US and Canada.
Q: What has been the biggest highlight of your founder journey so far?
Josh: The biggest highlight so far has to be convincing Raph our Product Designer and current CTO to join the team. Funny enough, I stood in as a Guarantor for him when he left university and was trying to get accommodation. He’s an exceptional product designer and CTO. We couldn't have made half of the progress we now have without his support in the team.
Q: Are there valuable lessons from your journey that you'd like to share with aspiring founders?
Josh: Live a life of impact. Building is hard and lonely. You need to have enough motivation to keep grinding. For us at BetaScore, the knowledge that our solution could impact loads of lives, keeps us excited, going and motivated.
Q: If you had the opportunity to invite someone to become part of the Black Valley community, who would it be and why?
Josh: You need a community, people that have gone through the journey and those currently going through it. Black Valley happens to be that place for us at BetaScore. So if you’re building and need a community that would believe in you, provide support and guidance on the journey, then Black Valley community is the place to be.
Q: Any closing thoughts you'd like to share with our readers?
Josh: I’m truly grateful for the opportunity to build with Black Valley and the Equity free support & guidance they’ve provided.
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