Cristina Junqueira, co-founder and CEO of the Brazilian digital bank Nubank, is the first female entrepreneur in Latin America to become a millionaire on her own merits and not by inheritance.
The female, with a degree in Engineering and a master’s degree from the University of Sao Paulo, is the owner of a fortune of US $ 1.3 billion, after the company made its premiere this week in Wall Street.
Nubank’s journey began in 2013, when he met the Colombian David Vélez and, together with the American Edward Wible, they founded the virtual bank.
Eight years later, it has become one of the largest digital financial institutions in the world, with a market value of about $ 48 billion. JunqueiraAt 39, he is in command of the firm in Brazil.
Junqueira was the only Brazilian to appear in the 2020 edition of Fortune’s World’s Most Powerful Women and on the list that recognizes leaders under 40 who are changing the world of business.
Likewise, she worked as a consultant at the Boston Consulting Group until, at just 24 years old, she decided to enter banking, supervising a credit card portfolio at the Itaú Unibanco company, then she went on to study a master’s degree in Business Administration at the University Northwestern (United States).
“I worked for the largest bank in Brazil for five years and ended up making the rich richer,” he told Fortune magazine in 2019.
Junqueira is the mother of two girls and with another on the way, the banker often discusses the challenges of work-life balance and has no problem including part of her family life on her Instagram account.
Very Few Non-Heir Women Among Billionaires
Women who have made huge fortunes through their own efforts make up just 3% of the world’s 500 richest people, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.
Although there have been changes, the list is still “Overwhelmingly white and masculine”wrote the American media.
And while gender disparity is a problem worldwide, it is most pronounced in Latin America.
“Only 1% of the companies that make up Brazil’s benchmark stock index have a woman as CEO, compared to 6% for the S&P 500 index,” the publication added.
With information from BBC Mundo.
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