The Story⚡
Most of us leave an event with full stomachs and good memories. Few ever see the late-night supplier calls, the backup generators, or the quiet calculations that keep everything standing. Funke Bucknor-Obruthe has lived inside that hidden machinery for more than twenty years.
Tell Me More
In the eighth episode of Dumb It Down, host Abimbola Craig sits with Funke Bucknor-Obruthe, founder and CEO of Zapphaire Events, to examine how a trained lawyer turned a personal habit of organising friends’ weddings into one of Nigeria’s most established event companies. The conversation moves steadily from early decisions to the practical systems required to keep a service business alive in a market where almost nothing goes exactly to plan.
Leaving Law Without a Map
Bucknor-Obruthe explained that studying law was largely her parents’ preference. She had wanted mass communication. After being called to the bar, she lasted only two weeks in a law firm before telling her parents she could not continue. She spent her NYSC year in an advertising agency while quietly helping friends prepare for their weddings. A cousin finally asked why she was not charging for the work. Her first fee was ₦10,000. The next was ₦40,000. A subsequent wedding featuring established vendors brought enough attention that she decided to leave formal employment entirely. She registered Zapphaire in 2002 and began operating properly in 2003, at a time when professional event planning as a standalone service barely existed in Nigeria.
Learning What the Work Was Worth
Early pricing, she said, was largely guesswork. There was no industry rate card to consult. She simply calculated what she needed to pay the few people assisting her and hoped the remainder covered her time. After attending training at the Fate Foundation, she began tracking every cost, phone calls, transport, staff hours, and building formal profit-and-loss statements. Margins became deliberate rather than accidental. She noted that the shift from informal hustle to structured pricing was one of the most important early disciplines she adopted.
Anticipating What Will Go Wrong
Bucknor-Obruthe was clear that no event runs exactly as planned. Power cuts, supplier delays, and last-minute guest-number changes are routine. She rejected the idea that faith alone is sufficient strategy. Instead, she builds layered contingencies, Plan A through G, covering logistics, health and safety, and equipment. The goal is not to prevent every problem but to absorb them without the guests noticing.
Turning a Personal Skill into an Organisation
As the company grew, reliance on the founder became a risk. She described how systems, job descriptions, and trained project leads were introduced so that quality no longer depended on her physical presence. The same Fate Foundation exposure that taught her basic accounting also pushed her toward institutional structures. Client boundaries formed another quiet discipline: knowing when a brief or a budget simply did not fit, and being prepared to walk away rather than dilute standards.
Creating Experiences, Not Just Order
What began as relieving stress for overwhelmed families gradually became the deliberate design of memorable experiences. Bucknor-Obruthe credited early exposure to creative environments, reading, and working with already skilled vendors for helping her develop a reliable eye. Trust, she observed, accumulated through consistent delivery and the willingness to correct mistakes openly when they occurred.
Throughout the conversation, she returned to practical foundations: clear briefs, free initial consultations to test mutual fit, careful measurement of time and cost, and the patient training of people who can eventually run projects without her. The result is a company that has operated for more than two decades in an industry that still surprises many outsiders with its complexity and scale.
Watch Full Interview Here
In Summary
Behind every seamless celebration sits a web of negotiations, contingency plans, and quiet accounting that most guests never notice. Funke Bucknor-Obruthe’s account shows how those invisible layers can be turned into a durable business. The full conversation rewards a careful listen, especially for anyone curious about what it actually takes to keep the lights on, the food arriving, and the evening flowing when almost nothing goes according to the original script.
Thanks for Reading.
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