Amaka Uchegbu is Co-Founder and Chief Product Officer at BrightUp, a FinTech startup dedicated to helping workers grow their net worth and improve their self-worth through ethical lending and financial wellness tools.

Igbo-born and UK-raised, Amaka graduated from Yale University with a BA in Ethics, Politics and Economics, where her senior thesis won the prestigious John Addison Porter Prize.

At McKinsey and Company, Amaka co-authored a critical publication on the impact of automation on the African American workforce, serving clients across industries from East Coast publishing to West African natural resource firms.

As CPO at BrightUp from 2020 to 2023, Amaka led product strategy for a platform backed by Kapor Capital, Black Tech Nation Ventures, Collab Capital, and Gratitude Railroad, focused on salary-linked emergency loans and financial coaching.

Amaka has since founded UCHE Beauty, an AI-powered personal product recommendation platform for Afro hair, continuing her mission of using technology to serve underrepresented communities.