Cristina Junqueira is a Brazilian banking executive and one of the founders of
Nubank
Nubank is a Brazilian neobank and the largest fintech bank in Latin America. Its headquarters are located in São Paulo, Brazil. The company also has engineering offices in Berlin, Germany, Buenos Aires, Argentina, and an office in Mexico City, Me ...
, a financial technology company. She is Brazil's second self-made woman billionaire.
Early life and education
Born in
Ribeirão Preto
Ribeirão Preto (Portuguese pronunciation: ibejˈɾɐ̃w ˈpɾetu is a municipality and a metropolitan area located in the northeastern region of São Paulo state, Brazil.
Ribeirão Preto is the eighth-largest municipality in the State wi ...
in
São Paulo
São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...
, Brazil, Junqueira moved to
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
as an infant. Intending to study industrial engineering, Junqueira attended the
Universidade de São Paulo
The Universiade is an international multi-sport event, organized for university athletes by the International University Sports Federation (FISU). The name is a portmanteau of the words "University" and "Olympiad".
The Universiade is referred t ...
. Upon graduating, she accepted the role of an associate consultant at the Boston Consulting Group. As she worked, Junqueira obtained her master’s degree in economic and financial modeling at the same college.
Shortly after this, in 2007, she attended the
Kellogg School of Management
The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University (also known as Kellogg) is the business school of Northwestern University, a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1908, Kellogg is one of the oldest and most p ...
at
Northwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston, Illinois. Founded in 1851, Northwestern is the oldest chartered university in Illinois and is ranked among the most prestigious academic institutions in the world.
Charte ...
in Chicago, Illinois, where she earned her MBA.
Career
After obtaining her MBA, Junqueira returned to Brazil and worked as the head of the small-and-medium-sized enterprises sector at
Unibanco
Unibanco S.A. was a Brazilian bank which operated from 1924 to 2009, when it was merged into Banco Itaú. The name stood for ''União de Bancos Brasileiros'' ("Union of Brazilian Banks").
Foundation
In 1924 João Moreira Salles established the C ...
, the largest private banking group in the country. The next year, a merger took place between Unibanco and
Itaú, the second-largest private banking group in Brazil, and Junqueira was offered the position of portfolio manager. Junqueira later resigned from the company.
She also worked at LuizaCred, the financial services unit of Brazilian retailer
Magazine Luiza
Magazine Luiza is a Brazilian retail company, along with GPA, Viavarejo, Lojas Americanas
Lojas Americanas is a Brazilian retail chain founded in 1929 in the city of Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, by the Austrian-Brazilian Max Landesmann and Ameri ...
.
Nubank
The idea behind Nubank was inspired soon after Junqueira realized that she was only "making the rich richer".
She was introduced to David Vélez, who had experience as a venture capitalist under
Sequoia Capital
Sequoia Capital is an American venture capital firm. The firm is headquartered in Menlo Park, California, and specializes in seed stage, early stage, and growth stage investments in private companies across technology sectors. , Sequoia's total a ...
. He also had growing frustrations in regards to Brazil’s banking system. With their shared frustrations in mind, Junqueira and Vélez decided to partner together and begin a digital banking venture.
Junqueira and Vélez decided upon “Nubank” as the name to represent their venture. In addition to “nu” phonetically sounding similar to the word “new”, it means “nude” in Portuguese. This is representative of the founders' values in creating a transparent firm.
References
Kellogg School of Management alumni
{{Authority control
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
Brazilian business executives
Brazilian bankers