Funke Bucknor-Obruthe (born 27 June 1976) is a Nigerian entrepreneur and lawyer. She is the founder and CEO of Zapphaire Events and is regarded as one of Nigeria's pioneering event planners.

Early life and education

Bucknor-Obruthe was born to Segun and Shola Bucknor in

Lagos State Lagos State ( yo, Ìpínlẹ̀ Èkó) is a States of Nigeria, state in South West (Nigeria), southwestern Nigeria. Of the 36 States of Nigeria, states, it is both the List of Nigerian states by population, most populous and List of Nigerian state ...

, Southwestern Nigeria. She began her basic and secondary school education at Fountain Nursery and Primary School,

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

, and Nigeria Navy Secondary School, Lagos, before she proceeded to study Law at the University of Lagos. In 2000, she was called to bar after attending the

Nigerian Law School The Nigerian Law School is an educational institution set up by the Government of Nigeria in 1962 to provide a Nigerian legal education to foreign-trained lawyers, and to provide practical training for aspiring Legal Practitioners in Nigeria. ...

Abuja Abuja () is the capital and eighth most populous city of Nigeria. Situated at the centre of the country within the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), it is a planned city built mainly in the 1980s based on a master plan by International Plann ...

Career

After practising law briefly, Bucknor-Obruthe was employed at Tie Communications, an advertisement agency, where she worked for a short period. In 2003, her love for event planning made her start Zapphaire Events, an independent event planning enterprise. She has since gone on to plan and organize several high-profile events within and outside Nigeria and has won awards and recognition including being featured in

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's ''Inside Africa'' for planning a Nigerian royal wedding. Some of these include the Future Award for "Entrepreneur of the Year" (2006), the ''Wedding Planner Magazine'' Award for "Wedding Planner of the Year" (2007), Go2girl Life Achievement Awards (2011), Nigerian Events Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Events Industry (2012).

Books

*''The Essential Bridal Handbook''

Recognitions

In 2014, Nigerian online magazine ''

YNaija ''YNaija'' is a Nigerian online content publishing platform, founded by Chude Jideonwo and Adebola Williams of RED Africa media group. ''YNaija'' launched in May 2010 with columnists and various news sources. It offers news, original content an ...

'' listed Bucknor-Obruthe in its "10 Most Powerful Under-40s in Business". In 2016, she was listed in the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

's '' 100 Women'' series.

Personal life

Bucknor-Obruthe is married to Onome Obruthe, with whom she has two children. She is the elder sister of the late Nigerian media personality

Tosyn Bucknor Oluwatosin "Tosyn" Bucknor (15 August 1981 – 19 November 2018) was a Nigerian writer, singer-songwriter, radio and television host, social media content creator and a Vlogger who died of sickle cell anaemia. Until her death, she worked wi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bucknor-Obruthe, Funke 1976 births Living people Businesspeople from Lagos State University of Lagos alumni Nigerian Law School alumni Nigerian women lawyers Nigerian women writers Funke Event planners