UCHE PEDRO
Diva of online media
Founder & Managing Director of Bella Naija
Country: Nigeria
Sector: New Media
Uche Pedro is founder of BellaNaija.com, a company that develops and delivers exciting online content aimed at Nigerian and Pan-African audiences. Uche’s savvy grasp of media trends has led to BellaNaija.com becoming the go-to lifestyle, entertainment and fashion portal in Africa. Her website has established a loyal following amongst the young, cosmopolitan, upwardly mobile set in Nigeria, with over 1 million unique visitors and 9 million page views each month.
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Uche's Startup Story
BellaNaija was founded in July 2006 by Uche and began as a hobby. The idea for establishing BellaNaija came whilst she was studying at university in Canada. She had two weeks holiday and soon got bored. She had always loved Nigeria and Africa, and each time she returned to the country for a holiday or on visits from school or work, she saw how everything in Nigeria was growing - the fashion was more vibrant, the entertainment was more vibrant, more young people were getting involved in politics, business, etc and it was so encouraging. So she was inspired to start something that represented this exciting young vibe in the country - she began to blog about fashion and celebrity in Nigeria and BellaNaija was born. She started by scanning magazine articles, pictures and interviews of Nigerian fashion personalities and continued in a low profile way until her BellaNaija portal began to have over 1 million hits every month, at which time she unveiled the personality behind the portal to the media.
Read more about Uche's startup story →
Africa is rapidly developing a love affair with online media and content, and Uche Pedro’s fabulous BellaNaija.com platform and company is bang on trend when it comes to appealing to Nigeria’s young, cosmopolitan set. We reckon Uche is set to become one of Africa’s entrepreneurial powerhouses in the online media space. --- Melanie Hawken, LoA founder and editor-in-chief
"BellaNaija.com is what I would call an entertainment, lifestyle and fashion portal. It is for the young, cosmopolitan, upwardly mobile African."
- Uche Pedro
“Uche is a pioneer in the Nigerian online media space. She not only developed her own business but has also catalysed growth in the online media sector in Nigeria while supporting expansion in the wider creative industries. Uche represents a new generation of creative entrepreneurs that Nigeria surely needs..."
- Nkiru Asika, CEO of Enterprise Creative
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Awards & Accolades
Uche's recent awards and honours include:
- 2014 – Uche was named as one of the ’30 Most Promising Young Entrepreneurs in Africa in 2014’ by Forbes
- 2013 – Uche was selected as a winner of the YCE Screen/Multimedia Award
- 2013 - International Young Media Entrepreneur of the Year Award
- 2012 – BellaNaija.com won the Online Publication of the Year Award at the FAB Awards
- 2011 – Uche was selected as a Nigeria Leadership Initiative Associate, a prestigious distinction for young outstanding Nigerians
- 2011 – Uche was honoured as a ‘Young Person of the Year’ Finalist at the Future Awards, Nigeria’s most esteemed youth awards organization
- 2011 – Uche’s BellaNaija company was chosen as one of 50 high potential Nigerian SMEs and was awarded a British Airways Opportunity Grant
- 2011 – Uche was awarded the TW Magazine Protégé Award for Business Entrepreneurship
Bella Naija founder, Uche Pedro won the award for ‘Best Blogger – Africa’ at the 2016 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards on Saturday, 12 March at The Forum in Inglewood, California. This talented Nigerian blogger and online media entrepreneur won the award ahead of other African bloggers including, Sylvia Kamau (Kenya), Aisha Baker (South Africa), and Theodora Lee(South Africa).