Recently, Christina Junquera was voted the second most important woman in the fintech universe by British magazine Fintech magazine.
Sao Paulo’s engineer is one of the co-founders of Nubank, a digital bank founded in 2013. After raising US $ 400 million in January 2021, the startup became considered the fourth largest financial institution in Latin America.
Do you want to know more about the origins and trajectory of Christina Janjira? So, read below and check it out below!
Christina Junqueira formed and early career
Christina Junpera holds a production engineering degree and a master’s degree in engineering from the University of São Paulo (USP). While studying at USP, he was an internal analyst at Itua Unibanco. Shortly thereafter, she became a consultant at Booz Allen Hamilton and later, at the Boston Consulting Group.
However, in 2007, he moved to the United States to pursue an MBA at Northwestern University, a well-known North American business institution. After completing the course, he returned to Brazil for a leadership position at Itau Unibanco. At the time, Christina was 24 years old, and the team she led was older than her age.
Despite her success as a financial executive, Christina decided to give her professional life a new direction. This is because, according to him, his new ideas were not accepted in such a traditional institution. Therefore, in 2013, six years after assuming a leadership position at Itau Unibanco, the engineer decided to leave the institution to think about a completely innovative business.
According to Christina, no professional plans were still made while leaving the old institution. In contrast, his idea was fine for finding a new direction that would have given him the opportunity to practice the innovations he wanted.
Shortly thereafter, it entered into a partnership with Colombian David Velage, an employee of General Atlantic, a development equity company. Vallej was in Brazil since 2007 and worked with Venture Capital at General Atlantic.
Nubank Home
Originally, some of the main factors that led to the creation of Nubank were the uncertain service of the banking system and the high fees charged by traditional financial institutions.
On one hand, Christina Junquera was deeply disappointed by the reality going on as a bank manager. On the other hand, Velez realized these shortcomings, requiring him to open an account as soon as he arrived in Brazil. He even went as far as to propose improvements to his customer service and tariff system to some Brazilian banks. However, this was not heard.
Thus, Christina Junqueira, David Velez and, soon after, American Edward Vibe came together to form Juban. In this regard, the three partners had a desire to innovate and improve banking services.
Initially, all tasks were performed by the three partners. In fact, Christina Janjira was responsible for customer service. As a result, all 0800 calls were directed to your cell phone.
Currently, Nubank is the most popular digital bank in the world, with over 26 million active customers. In 2018, its valuation reached US $ 25 billion and, today, it is considered the fourth largest bank in Latin America, behind Italua Unibanco, Bradesco and Santander.
Christina and the female lead
In the 2020 edition, Forbes magazine cited Christina Junquera as one of Brazil’s most powerful women. At the time, the entrepreneur photographed her on the eve of giving birth to her daughter.
In addition, Christina was also the first Brazilian in the financial sector to be included in Fortune magazine’s 40 Under 40 list. Regarding the recognition, he declared that “it was one of the best works Nubank has ever done.” In this sense, Christina highlighted the change promoted by the startup, the way Brazilians started to deal with their own funds and financial services.
In April 2021, Christina Junqueira was announced as the new CEO of Nubank in Brazil. Velez, who previously held this position, became the bank’s global leader, a position that did not exist in the institution until that time.
Regarding the change in management structure, Nubank announced to the press that the process is part of corporate governance. That is, it is a natural step towards the international expansion of Nubank.
