Uchenna
Jennifer Eze professionally known as Uche Pedro is the Founder/CEO of
BellaNaija, a media tech company focused on lifestyle, entertainment and
advocacy. The media brand, BellaNaija has established a loyal following across BellaNaija.com, BellaNaija
Weddings and BellaNaija Style.
Uche was born and raised
in Nigeria where she finished her primary and secondary school education. She
holds a Bachelors degree with Honors in Business Administration (HBA) from the
prestigious Richard Ivey School of Business, University of Western Ontario in
Canada where she graduated with distinction in 2006. In 2020, she graduated
from the Harvard Kennedy School with a Masters in Public Administration.
Her Journey to Blogging.
Prior to the creation of
BellaNaija, Uche worked for Shell Canada, Cadbury middle East & Africa
Unit in the UK, and Cadbury in Nigeria. She founded BellaNaija in 2006.
According to her, the
idea for establishing BellaNaija came while she was studying for her
undergraduate degree at the Ivey School of Business, University of
Western Ontario, Canada. She had a two-week holiday and soon got bored. This inspired
her to start something that represented this exciting young vibe in the country
when she came to Nigeria and observe the growing improvements in fashion,
entertainment, and business. BellaNaija in its early form featured scanned
magazine articles, pictures and interviews of Nigerian fashion personalities.
Interestingly, Uche started blogging anonymously and did not reveal her
identity until BellaNaija began to have over 1 million hits
every month. BellaNaija.com has grown
to host over one million new hits per month and has won numerous awards
including the Outstanding Contribution to Fashion Communication Award at the
2010 Africa Fashion Week held by Africa Fashion International (AFI) in Johannesburg,
South Africa.
Her Early Life.
She has two
siblings, Stephanie Eze and Nkechi Christine Eze.
Her Personal Life.
On 16 June 2012, Uche
married Bode Pedro, a son to the former Deputy Governor of Lagos State, Femi
Pedro. She gave birth to a set of twins April 9, 2015.
Her Net Worth.
Uche Pedro’s estimated net worth is valued
at around $4 million. Due to the numerous visitors she has on her blog,
she earns a lot from Google AdSense, direct adverts, sponsored posts, and
wedding features.
Other Involvements.
Asides BellaNaija, Uche
is passionate about impacting her community and nurturing the next generation.
She is the founder of #BNDoGood - an impact -driven initiative which
consistently supports a wide variety of non-profits and social impact
organizations including LEAP Africa, Slum2School, Django Girls, Junior
Achievement Nigeria and a long list of others.
In 2018, Uche co-founded
PVCitizen, an initiative to encourage millennials and Generation Z to register
to vote and become active citizens. In November 2018, Uche received an ELOY
Award for Innovation/Invention, reserved for a woman who has used her skills to
create innovative ways to solve problems and also invented solutions to
different challenges.
In addition she was recognized
at the Frown Awards by UNICEF/UNFPA for her efforts toward the abandonment of
Female Genital Mutilation in Nigeria.
Uche served as a host
for the TEDxLagos Spotlight event in August 2018.
Nominations and Awards.
In 2010, Uche Pedro won
Outstanding Contribution to Fashion Communication Award and “The Future Awards
Africa” for Young Media Entrepreneur of the Year in 2013 and many other awards.
She also featured on the
Oprah Winfrey show “Beauty Around the World”, in February 2010 alongside
Jessica Simpson and Lisa Ling.
In 2013, Uche won The
Future Awards Young Media Entrepreneur of the Year.
She also won the
Creative Industries Awards Creative Industries Awards for Bloggers in 2015.
In 2016, she was awarded
with the Kids’ Choice Awards Best African Blogger.
She is a Fellow of
TEDGlobal and a Nigeria Leadership Initiative associate NLI Associate
In March 2019, Uche was
honoured with the Forbes Woman Africa New Media Award for her innovative impact
on media in Africa.
She was listed in the second publication of 100 Most Influential African Women in 2020 by Avance Media.
She is on Twitter @bellanaija, Instagram @Uchepedro. Her website is Bellanaija.com.
