From Dancing to Event Planning, Funke Kuti Rules Her World

The Chief Executive Officer of FK Management Funke Kuti is one of the prominent names in the event planning space. But a decade ago, the 50-year-old was mainly known as a dancer of her ex-husband Femi Kuti’s Positive Force Band.

Over the years, FK as she is fondly called has worked in several capacities within the media, marketing communications, and entertainment industry. Reflecting on her journey in the event planning space, FK disclosed that the vocation found her as it was never part of her aspirations.

“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,” she said.

After leaving the dance world in 2011, she started organizing intimate events.

“Every job I had when I entered the workforce always had the event management portfolio attached to it. That’s when I started organizing events professionally for the companies where I worked till I eventually set up mine in 1998. I am a super organizer, coordinator, a multitasking master with great people and time management skills. So, it sort of came very naturally to me. It takes a special type of person to be an event planner, we are very rare.”

One of the reasons she is passionate about planning events, she said, is because it’s a team sport. Although the business comes with a lot of stress, FK revealed that she loves the adrenaline rush that comes with each project.

Perhaps, another cause of happiness to her is the meteoric rise of her son Made Kuti who for the first time is nominated in the upcoming Grammy Awards alongside his father. “I’m very proud of the man that he has become,” she enthused.

With the success of her business, it is evident that FK is having the time of her life and is unapologetic about it.