Uzoamaka Okoro is a skilled professional with a wealth of experience and expertise in product management and operations, demonstrating a consistent track record of driving growth and operational excellence.

She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Physics – Renewable Energy. Her career is marked by successful roles across Workstation International Co-Work, Fibre, Fincra and much more, where she has leveraged her expertise to improve operational efficiencies, enhance service delivery, and deliver customer-centric products. Starting her journey at Fincra as a Product Manager, Uzoamaka spearheaded the development and launch of technological solutions with strong market fit. In her current role as Head of Operations, Uzoamaka oversees Fincra’s strategic and day-to-day operations. She is passionate about mentoring the next generation of business operations professionals in the technology industry and contributing to the growth and development of the sector. In this interview, she speaks on leadership and innovative approach driving Fincra towards its strategic goals as well as navigating complex challenges to inspire her team and peers.

You majored in Industrial Physics and Renewable Energy but are building a successful career in Business Operations Management. Talk to us about this transition.

This brings back a lot of memories. I remember that after I finished my degree in Industrial Physics & Renewable Energy, I had the idea of building a recycling infrastructure company that would convert waste into reusable products and alternative energy while improving Nigeria’s recycling culture. I wanted to tackle the waste pollution crisis head-on, especially since I had been fortunate to travel out of the country and see what’s possible in that area. Unfortunately, the idea couldn’t come to fruition due to various external factors at the time. This made me re-evaluate and pursue my other passions. I’ve always enjoyed building, whether it’s people or businesses. So, I knew my skills lay in creating, strategising, and empowering others. From my research, I realised operations was a space where my strengths could thrive. Much like a plant requires water, sunlight, or soil and all those elements working together to grow, successful operations require the same combination of vision, people, processes, and systems, and I understood how to align the right pieces, so the transition felt natural. But I also knew that success required growth, so I prioritised constantly refining my skills, especially as I tackled new challenges and industries. It’s been a rewarding journey, using my skills to create an impact for the businesses and people I work with.
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Given your proven track record of driving growth and operational excellence, what elements would you say are crucial to attaining operational excellence?

Over the years, I’ve built a strong foundation for operational excellence by focusing on three key elements: aligning people, processes, and tools with the company’s vision. It all starts with clarifying the strategic direction and ensuring alignment across the organisation.

I make it a priority for everyone to understand our goals and objectives and their specific role in achieving them. At Fincra, we regularly review our goals collectively, encouraging open discussions that challenge ideas and refine our strategies where necessary. I also believe in giving teams the autonomy to develop initiatives that align with our strategic objectives. This approach fosters a shared understanding and fuels a sense of purpose, which is essential for driving momentum.

Establishing clear standards and processes for delivering value to internal and external customers is another critical priority for me. Whether streamlining internal communication, optimising meetings for effectiveness, or implementing more significant initiatives like onboarding processes and change management guidelines, I always focus on the outcomes we want to achieve and design for it. Intentionally setting clear principles for how work is done at every value chain stage ensures consistency and efficiency and positively impacts the company culture. Equally important is ensuring these standards are well understood and applied consistently across the organisation. Data plays a central role in guiding our decision-making process. However, it’s crucial to track the right metrics. While all data provides insights, focusing on measuring what truly matters to the business, rather than vanity metrics, significantly improves the quality of information at hand. Understanding the story behind the numbers allows us to make informed decisions and fine-tune our strategies. Additionally, I believe in creating visibility around key data points across the company, as this promotes inclusion and sparks innovation. Finally, fostering a culture of continuous improvement is vital to maintaining high performance. Achieving operational excellence and building effective teams is an ongoing process of defining, implementing, monitoring, analysing, and refining. It is essential to remain flexible and adaptable to market shifts and changing needs of the customer and business at all times, as this makes a lot of difference. At Fincra, we’ve implemented several practices to encourage an improvement culture, such as regular retrospectives, using KPIs like employee training and process optimisation, and fostering an environment where feedback is welcomed and valued.
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What personal challenges have you faced, and how have you been able to overcome them?

This is an interesting question. One that comes to mind now is transitioning from being more behind-the-scenes and immersed in the internal demands of the business to stepping out and being more visible at industry engagements. As our business grew in capabilities and reach, I realised that the strategies and ways of working that were vital in the early days needed to evolve. At first, I was reluctant to attend industry engagements, as it seemed like a trade-off to getting more work done. That changed when my team signed me up for an event I attended. Meeting partners and customers in person, some of whom I had only communicated with via email or virtual meetings, opened my eyes to the value of more face-to-face interactions.

Additionally, I gained actionable insights, connected to new opportunities, and realised I could tick off some to-dos while forging stronger bonds in our industry.

That experience changed my perspective; ever since, I’ve embraced it as a critical part of my role. It was challenging initially, but the shift was necessary for my growth and the company’s. Now, I understand the importance of balancing behind-the-scenes work with engaging in industry conversations, which not only moves the business forward but also deepens relationships.

How do you balance driving strategic growth initiatives with maintaining company-wide efficiency across people, technology and processes as an Operations Leader?

I constantly prioritise and delegate effectively. Maintaining efficiency is a fundamental & recurring aspect of the business, so I put structures in place to ensure our ways of working & existing processes are reviewed regularly, ensuring we make improvements when necessary. When managing growth-specific initiatives, I prioritise based on the expected impact on the company versus the immediate business needs. This allows me to focus my time and energy where it matters most. Delegation is crucial to my productivity. I empower my team by providing the training, coaching, and autonomy they need to perform at their best and take ownership of assigned tasks.

Can you highlight some key achievements from your outstanding work at Fincra?

I am always so proud of our work at Fincra and how I have been instrumental in our success stories as a business. Some of the work I am proud and privileged to have led at Fincra will be building the operational structure and processes that helped us grow from a compact, yet priceless team of 4 to a thriving team of over 70 people. This allowed us to increase customer impact significantly in terms of size and transaction volumes by creating a foundation that could scale effectively as the business grew. I also played a crucial role in closing over 30 strategic partnerships worldwide. These partnerships were essential to ensuring the reliability of our core products and maintaining high transaction success rates, which is something our customers count on us for every day. Managing multiple acquisitions is another highlight, including the successful acquisition of a licensed microfinance bank, which added to our product offerings and helped us strengthen our foothold in key markets. One I wouldn’t forget is leading the development and implementation of our market entry strategy for new regions within and outside Africa.

This opened up new opportunities and set the stage for further growth. Generally, as Head of Operations, I ensure that our operations align with the company’s strategic goals, keeping teams focused on getting there and continuously innovating to serve our customers better.

You have a passion for mentoring the next generation of business operations professionals in the tech industry. How crucial is it that we provide them with the right skills and information to set them up for success?

To me, mentorship is like light; it reveals gaps in your thinking and opens you up to new ideas that can transform you. If you think about it, work accounts for a large percentage of how we spend our lives, and I want to see all Business Operations professionals, particularly women, in tech and beyond, thrive in their roles and lead fulfilled lives. Mentorship is one way to get them there. Starting my Operations Leadership journey, I was introspective enough to recognise areas that needed refinement with the evolving nature of my role, and that awareness significantly boosted my output. Mentorship accelerates this process by turning awareness into transformation at a faster pace. Mentorship comes in two forms: indirect and direct.

Indirect mentorship involves learning from people you admire through their books, social media posts, programs, or events.

It’s an easily overlooked approach, but it has been a game-changer for me. On the other hand, direct mentorship allows you to learn one-on-one from peers and experienced leaders who can provide personalised guidance and insight. Both forms have been pivotal in my journey and are essential for business operations professionals, especially those in fast-paced tech environments. Given the unique challenges that business operations executives face in startups and scale-ups, it’s crucial to equip them with the right tools and frameworks to succeed. I want these professionals, particularly women, to feel confident in their strengths, be kind to themselves when facing challenges, and show up as their best selves daily. With the right mentorship, they can make lasting impacts in their organisations while growing as individuals. I’ve already begun this work by mentoring some industry colleagues, mostly women and contributing to Chapter 3 of the COO book by Operations Nation, which focuses on setting yourself up for success in the first 90 days as a COO. I look forward to continuing this journey and collaborating with others to help the next generation of operations professionals thrive.

In your view, how can more Tech Startups leverage the role of operations as a growth driver?

That’s a great question. I often advise founders that to unlock the full potential of their operations team, they need to change the perception of operations as merely a cost centre. Advances in technology and modern business models have expanded the capabilities, skill sets, and scope of operations teams, creating unique opportunities for organisations to benefit.

We’ve seen a shift where general operations roles are evolving into more specialised areas such as Business Operations (BizOps), People Operations (PeopleOps), DevOps, DesignOps, ProductOps, and CustomerOps. Additionally, leadership roles like COO, Director of Operations, VP of Operations, and Head of Operations sometimes transition from full-time positions to fractional or part-time roles. However, it’s essential to evaluate the specific stage of a business to determine when it’s the right time to bring in an Operations Leader to oversee company-wide operations or specialised individuals to manage key operational functions. For an organisation to grow, the operations team and leadership must translate strategy into actionable plans, measure key performance indicators, and create cross-functional collaboration. They also need to build scalable structures using data, technology, and processes, maintain long-term thinking while executing immediate goals, drive operational efficiency, manage risks, and handle special projects like fundraising, acquisitions, and organisational restructuring. At the same time, operations leaders often act as strategic advisors to CEOs and Founders.
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