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The Chief Executive Officer of FK Management, Funke Kuti, has expressed her joy and pride of birthing and nurturing to adulthood her fast rising musician son, Made Kuti.
Funke Kuti was until 2011 a popular face and dancer in her former husband’s Femi Kuti’s Positive Force band. Gushing over her son, Made recently, Funke says: “I feel so proud of Omorinmade, I can’t even explain it. I look at him and think, ‘Wow, I gave birth to him’. He is such a joy and blessing to have as a son, and a blessing to everyone around him. I’m still in awe at the amount of talent he has. I am proud of where he has reached in such a short time of his career. I mean he is already a Grammy Award nominee at 25, that’s huge. I know he still has a long way to go but he’s so hardworking, resilient, dedicated and very focused on his goals. He knows exactly what he wants and is very determined to get there. I could go on and on, so in short, I am very proud of the man and the musician he’s becoming.”
The 51-year-old University of Lagos graduate of Business Administration has dipped her hands in several pies including corporate and sundry organisations, leading Sahara Energy’s Corporate Affairs, Sponsorship, Events Management, and Public Relations for three years.
Even as she’s still active in entertainment, Funke Kuti, fondly called FK, has been able to chart a new cause in the world of event planning. But then she admitted she never thought of charting a career as an event planner. In her words: “Honestly, I like to say event planning found me. I never thought I would become an event planner. I actually studied Business Administration but I have always loved to bring people together, and I am very passionate about my family and friends celebrating their birthdays, Christmas etc. no matter how small as long as we can spend some quality time together.
“So, I started organising intimate events first, then every job I had when I entered the workforce always had the event management portfolio attached to it. That’s when I started organising events professionally for the companies where I worked till I eventually set up FK Management in 1998. I am a super organiser, coordinator, multitasking master with great people and time management skills. So, it (event planning) sort of came very naturally to me. It takes a special type of person to be an event planner; we are very rare.”
Reiterating her love for event management, Funke continued: “I also became interested in event planning because it’s truly a team sport. I’m hands-on and I love working with experts in so many different areas – catering, floral, venue, music – and I feel like I learn so much from every event I’m lucky enough to be a part of. To me, executing a successful event makes all the craziness worth it, but I love the adrenaline rush! I love seeing my creative ideas come to life. I love seeing the joy on clients’ faces after a successful event.”
