Today’s Entrepreneur is Charles Gillig, Co-founder and CEO at RemitRight. RemitRight is a comparison platform for international money transfers, the KAYAK for remittances. They compare online money transfer operators, revealing hidden fees and exchange mark-ups for their predominantly immigrant users. They also provide information on other remittance preferences such as send and receive method and transfer time.
Gillig is a Los Angeles native, he has started companies, legal clinics and projects from SoCal to DC to West Africa. He got his JD degree at Georgetown University Law Center last 2011.
RemitRight self-categorizes in these areas: Comparison shopping, and Financial technology (Fintech).
Here’s a little about Gillig:
Companies I’ve founded or co-founded: RemitRight, Casa Cornelia Law Center City Heights Office
Companies I work or worked for: Skadden Fellowship Foundation, Economist Intelligence Unit, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,United States Peace Corps, Time Magazine – Asia Edition
Achievements (products built, personal awards won):
In 2011 I founded a non-profit legal services clinic for indigent immigrant victims of abuse in San Diego, CA. I represented over 500 clients, providing free representation to asylum-seekers, victims of domestic violence, unaccompanied minors and others. I was a Mayoral appointee to the City of San Diego Human Relations Commission. I won the Jeffrey Crandall Award upon graduation of Georgetown University Law Center, given to the graduating student who bets exemplifies a commitment to legal aid. I co-founded a satellite treatment center for HIV/AIDS in Northern Togo, West Africa with the United States Peace Corps. Started and ran a life skills camp and club for HIV/ADIS orphans.
My favorite startups: Nerdwallet, HipMunk, KAYAK
What’s most frustrating and rewarding about entrepreneurship/innovation?
The most frustrating is the time it takes to build something great. The most rewarding is building something and seeing a positive impact in the lives of others.
What’s the No. 1 mistake entrepreneurs make? They don’t understand the users.
What are the top three lessons you’ve learned as an entrepreneur? Build a great team. Test your product. Be open to change.
A Los Angeles native, Charlie is Co-Founder and CEO of RemitRight, a comparison platform for international money transfers. Previously he was a Skadden Fellow in San Diego, where he founded and directed a legal services clinic for indigent immigrant victims of human and civil rights abuses.
Outside of RemitRight, Charlie is a Commissioner on the City of San Diego Human Relations Commission and serves on the Boards of Directors of several non-profits. He also writes for the Economist Intelligence Unit on politics and economics in Africa and recently acted as a NGO legal observer to the Military Commission Hearings at Guantanamo Bay.
Charlie is a proud graduate of Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) and Georgetown University Law Center, where he received the Jeffrey Crandall Award for commitment to legal aid. Prior to graduate school, he served in the United States Peace Corps in Togo, West Africa. He grew up in the Hancock Park area of LA and went to Harvard-Westlake High School
*Want to be included in our Today’s Entrepreneur series? Email me: mitos@vator.tv
