The Connected Awards Immortalize Jessica Ugwe

Jessica Ugwe stands at the forefront of digital identity innovation. Her professional odyssey began in Lagos, navigating the intricacies of product support and transaction monitoring.

Jessica Ugwe

At Venture Garden Group, she defined roadmaps for cross‑border payment platforms; at Barclays, she refined her customer‑centric approach; and at ZeroLight, she honed agile practices for complex configurator APIs. Each chapter of her career built toward the role she holds today at Mitek Systems, where she drives data‑signal products with global reach.

Her biographical tapestry is woven with strategic clarity of translating intricate compliance requirements into intuitive features, orchestrating epics and sprint ceremonies that align legal, commercial, UX, and engineering stakeholders, and forging partnerships with industry-leading global data consortiums to underpin, scalable offerings.

Jessica has shown to measure success by the doors she opens for others. Her mentorship of underrepresented professionals, delivered through grassroots meetups and structured training, has cultivated confidence and expertise in hundreds of tech hopefuls.

It is this dual impact, enterprise transformation and ecosystem empowerment, that earned her the distinction of Certified Global Tech Hero. Qazeem Oladejo, whose vision birthed The Connected Awards, underscores the significance of Jessica’s induction: “Our certification is reserved for those whose innovations carry both technical sophistication and social resonance.

Jessica’s leadership in reducing fraud risks and accelerating digital onboarding, coupled with her dedication to community upliftment, embodies the exacting standards we uphold.”

Jessica’s narrative is also one of resilience. Confronting mental‑health challenges, she emerged with an empathetic leadership style that prioritizes psychological safety and continuous learning.

Her academic foundation, a first class Bachelor’s in International Relations and a Master’s in International Business fuels her global perspective, while her daily practice as a product manager anchors her in the real‑world complexities of fintech.

Immortalized as the 241st Certified Global Tech Hero, Jessica Ugwe’s journey illuminates the path for others: where purpose meets technology, and where genuine impact transcends titles. As she looks ahead, her commitment to build products that solve real problems and to keep the door open for every aspiring innovator remains unchanged.