It’s a timeless question – why would a successful young professional pick Buffalo over a locale with warmer weather, a cooler culture and a more progressive regional economy?
Ofo Ezeugwu has some insight on the matter.
The founder of WhoseYourLandlord came here in early 2020 after winning an award in the 43North business competition. Effectively, he traded 5% of his company and a pledge to operate here for a year for a $500,000 investment.
His obligation has ended, but Ezeugwu is staying in his downtown Buffalo apartment, with plans to build out an engineering team here this year.
It’s all about access.
Ezeugwu’s embrace by the local business community has led him to become a Buffalo Niagara Partnership member. The leader of Ernst and Young’s Buffalo office, Eugene Gramza, helped Ezeugwu last year become one of 100 entrepreneurs across the country chosen for the Ernst and Young Entrepreneurs Access Program.
The company recently launched paid pilot projects with two big-name local real estate firms, Newmark Ciminelli and Savarino Cos., who will use WhoseYourLandlord’s platform to forge deeper connections with residential renters in their facilities.
“People here want to see you succeed,” he said. “Buffalo is redefining itself as a city and that makes it a very fertile ground for business opportunities.”
Ezeugwu’s parents went to Niagara University, though he moved around as a child. He graduated with a business degree from Temple University in Philadelphia and then moved to New York City, where he focused on WhoseYourLandlord as a place where renters could post reviews about their landlords and buildings.
But the goal was always something bigger: a place where the two sides of the rental industry can talk to one another.
• Renters get to cut through the amorphous world of property managers with a meaningful way of logging suggestions and comments.
• Facility owners gather valuable insight ranging from the specific – Savarino recently installed a waterside picnic table at Waterfront Landing – to more general data about the experience of living in their properties.
The company is hunting for more early adopters to launch pilot projects, but is now firmly focused on growth. Ezeugwu says the scope of WhoseYourLandlord is poised to grow dramatically in the coming years.
“We want to be the ubiquitously used platform when it comes to insights shared between residents and owners,” he said. “We’re giving those owners an opportunity to impact people’s lives in a powerful way and to make more money doing it.”
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Ezeugwu is an active traveler – he was visiting Colombia when the pandemic hit and had to rush home before airlines closed – with a long trail of accolades stretching back to his days at Temple. In 2018, for instance, he was named Young Professional of the Year by the Africa-American Chamber of Commerce in 2018. His girlfriend, Tara Anika Nicolas, is a Nike trainer and actress who appears regularly on the television show Godfather of Harlem. She now splits her time between Brooklyn and Buffalo to live with Ezeugwu.
They’re smart, young and successful. So how do they like it here?
Ezeugwu said they can drive to Ellicottville and ski, spend all day on an interconnected series of bicycle trails, visit museums and enjoy an emergent restaurant and bar scene. Their friend group includes such impactful young professional professionals as 43North president Colleen Heidinger, Fresh Catch Poke Co. owner Michael Tobin and Newmark Ciminelli executive vice president Kyle Ciminelli.
“Buffalo has been a breath of fresh air, and I almost mean that literally,” Ezeugwu said. “It feels like my days are longer here.”
