Up until 2011, Funke Kuti was a popular face and dancer, who was a member of Femi Kuti’s positive force band.
Currently the Chief Executive of FK management, not many know that this 50-year-old has worked in several capacities within the media, marketing communications, and entertainment industry.
Armed with a degree in Business Administration from the University of Lagos, FK, as she is fondly addressed, has been able to chart a new cause in the world of event planning while still holding on to the entertainment threshold.
On her incursion into the world of event planning, she admitted never to have thought she would find a career in event planning.
“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,” she began on her journey into the world of event planning.
Continuing, she said, “So I started organizing 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 organizing events professionally for the companies where I worked till I eventually set up mine, FK Management in 1998. I am a super organizer, coordinator, a multitasking master with great people and time management skills. So, it sort of came very natural to me. It takes a special type of person to be an event planner, we are very rare.
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.”
Despite being a stressful job, Funke admits to enjoying the adrenaline rush that comes with every job she gets under FK Management.
As the saying goes, the apple never falls far from the tree; FK says she’s proud of being the mother of a rising star, Made Kuti.