Uche Pedro is a social media expert, Nigerian entrepreneur, and media entrepreneur. She is the founder of Nigeria’s trending fashion and celebrity blog, BellaNaija.com, and has inspired young Nigerians into the blogging industry. The good thing about the BellaNaija platform is that Uche instilled ethics and a guide in their publishing. There is a balance in the platform and they are not driven by the craze to publish anything just for traffic.
Uche Pedro Biography
Uche Pedro (Uchenna Jennifer Eze) who hails from the eastern part of Nigeria was born on 26th of July, 1984 and had her primary and secondary school education in Nigeria before moving to Canada where she obtained her Bachelor’s in Business Administration.
She married Olabode Pedro, the son of a one time deputy governor of Lagos state on 16th of June, 2012 and they are blessed with a set of twin.
Uche Pedro Source Of Wealth
Her primary source of wealth is through Bellanaija; through Adsense earnings, direct advertisements on Bellanaija, and sponsored post. She is a serial entrepreneur and has other business interests. We cannot ascertain her net worth but she sure is a money bag.
Uche Pedro Early Career
Uche Eze Pedro started with a post-graduation job with Shell Canada, then Cadbury Middle East and African Unit in UK and finally Cadbury In Nigeria. She is a Nigeria Leadership Initiative associate and a Fellow of TEDGlobal. Uche is also a member, Board of Director of LEAP (Leadership, Effectiveness, Accountability and Professional) Africa, a non profit organisation founded in 2002.
Birth of BellaNaija.com
Each time Uche visit Nigeria during holidays, she could not help but observe the growing improvements in fashion, entertainment and business. She felt it will be nice to showcase these improvements to the world and that is how blogging started. For her, it started as a hobby where she was scanning magazine articles, pictures and interviews and posting. Little did she know that she was about to change the face of fashion and entertainment in Nigeria.
BellaNaija started on a free platform (www.bellanaija.blogspot.com) on the 1st of July 2006 before moving to bellanaija.com. When the site starting hitting millions in views in a month, Uche realised the potential of what she was building and she went ahead to organise the business.
BellaNaija.com
The steps Uche Pedro took in organising the business was registering a parent company, BainStone Limited. BainStone Limited is focused on developing and managing innovative and exciting online media content for Africans. The company was among the 50 high potential SME’s chosen and awarded a British Airways Opportunity Grant.
Today, BellaNaija.com is one of the top sites in Nigeria with millions of views in a month and earns huge revenue from Google Adsense, direct adverts, sponsored posts, and wedding features.
Uche Pedro has been building and expanding the BellaNaija brand and ‘productising’ different segments of the brand, for instance there is the BellaNaijaStyle.com. The Bellanaija brand achieved great feat last year and worthy of mention is their partnership with the United Nations Office of the Commissioner for Human right for International Women’s Day, 2017 to create awareness to issues affecting women in Africa.
Uche Pedro received an invite to The Obama Foundation Summit; a 2 day gathering of about 500 civic leaders from around the world. The BellaNaija team completed the Stanford Seed Transformation Program in 2017, a 12- month program where high potential leaders are challenged to assess their companies’s vision and redefine strategies.
Uche Pedro and BellaNaija Awards and Nomination.
- Listed among 100 people that shaped the year by PUNCH 2008
- Featured on Oprah Winfrey Show ‘Beauty Around the World’ 2010
- Outstanding Contribution to Fashion Communication Award at African Fashion Week 2010
- British Council International Young Media Entrepreneur of the Year 2013
- Young Entrepreneur of the year by The Future Awards Africa 2013
- Forbes’ 30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneur in Africa 2014
- Creative Industries Awards for Bloggers by Creative Industries Awards 2015
- Best African Blogger at Nickelodeon Kid’s Choice Award 2016
- Named in YNaija Powerlist of Most Powerful Young People in Media 2017
- Nominated for New African Woman Award 2017