PeopleJoy is like ‘TurboTax for student loans’ with an HR benefits twist

In a tight labor market, some employers are using student loan benefits to stay competitive.

That strategy is the foundation of PeopleJoy, a Philadelphia-based company founded in 2016 by entrepreneur Emeka Oguh that boasts facilitating close to $100 million in loan forgiveness for its client’s employees. 

The firm helps employers administer tuition assistance, private student loan repayment programs and Public Service Loan Forgiveness support, turning dense federal rules into structured workplace benefits.

“There’s always going to be a competitor that can pay more,” Oguh said, but people sometimes choose a job based on employee benefits, making those packages a way for employers to differentiate themselves.

Nearly a decade after its founding, PeopleJoy has grown into a nationally facing company.

From personal debt to employer solution

The idea began at home. Between Oguh and his wife, the couple carried more than $400,000 in student loan debt. Navigating repayment options exposed how fragmented and unforgiving the system could be.

Oguh, who holds a degree in electrical and computer engineering and an MBA from Harvard Business School, began his career at Merrill Lynch, working in both technology and investment management before launching and exiting a previous venture, a mobile app publisher called Apptempo. 

When he started PeopleJoy, he said, he wanted to build something with what he calls a double bottom line: profitable, but impact-driven.

Instead of selling directly to borrowers, the model focuses on employers, who partner with the company to administer tuition and student loan benefits for their employees.

Most Americans, Oguh said, already rely on their workplace for retirement accounts, insurance and healthcare. If companies are central to financial decision-making, he reasoned, they can also serve as a gateway for debt strategy.

“The best way I describe it is TurboTax for student loans,” Oguh said. Borrowers upload documentation, and the software applies the up-to-date federal policy rules to flag mistakes and map next steps.

The company operates as part technology platform, part managed service. It handles the back-end administration of tuition and loan repayment benefits and private student loan repayment administration, as well as guiding nonprofit employees through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF), a federal program that forgives remaining student loan balances for eligible nonprofit and government employees after 10 years of qualifying payments.

The program has had rejection rates as high as 98%, Oguh said. PeopleJoy’s system flags eligibility errors and maps out next steps over what is typically a decade-long process.

For qualifying employees, that process can translate into significant financial relief. Based on the borrowers PeopleJoy supports, Oguh said the average balance forgiven totals about $80,000 over 10 years. Spread across a decade, that equates to roughly $8,000 per year in effective compensation.

For nonprofits and mission-driven organizations that cannot win on salary alone, that government-funded relief can function like a long-term raise that rewards employees for staying.

Building in Philadelphia, growing steadily

Early traction came from Philadelphia-area anchor institutions willing to sign on. Organizations PeopleJoy works with include the University of Pennsylvania to nonprofit healthcare systems such as Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“Somebody has to be the first person to say yes,” Oguh said.

Unlike many HR tech startups, PeopleJoy did not scale on large venture rounds. Oguh seeded the company himself following his Apptempo exit, added friends-and-family capital and grew primarily through customer revenue. As it approaches its 10-year anniversary, the company is profitable and, according to Oguh, has maintained almost 100% customer retention since its founding.

While it has an office headquarters in Philadelphia, PeopleJoy has operated with virtual employees from day one, and now employs nearly 20 people across eight states and three countries.

Looking back on its early years, Oguh sees a direct link between the company’s survival and the city where it started.

“It’s grit,” Oguh said. “That’s the definition of Philly. And we’re definitely a gritty company.”