32-year old OlaKunle Ogunrombi is our Festac Icon for The week. Kunle Ogunrombi popularly known as K-peace came to the limelight as the winner of the recently concluded 5th edition of Nigerian Idol sponsored by Etisalat Nigeria.
K-peace is an Ogun state indigene and lives in Amuwo-Odofin. Kunle has five siblings and he is the first son of his family, His father was a engineer with Leventis Motors at one time, but he lost his job and later tried his hands at trading in motor parts, sadly he died due to cardiac arrest. The bread-winner of the family was gone and that marked the beginning of many difficult years for every one in his family with his mum inclusive.
Life wasn’t so easy for olakunle financially especially after the death of his father. Despite The odds he made up his mind to continue struggling believing things would get better. In order to meet up with end meets , K-peace started out sealing and selling Chin-Chin to some roadside traders. Later , he decided to go into direct selling when he realised he would make more money doing so.
In an interview, Kunle revealed
“I come from a family of five children and we were well-catered for. My father was an engineer . That of us, including our mother whose duty it was to provide for us,” said
“At that time, I covered Mile 2 to Maza-Maza and Alakija, selling Chin-chin. I later sold Gala, Pure water and soft drinks around the “Chopping Centre” neighbourhood of Festac Town,” he said.
Prior to this, he had worked as a casual worker in a factory at Maza-Maza where he worked daily from 7 am to 5 pm for a paltry sum of N120.00 with an option of overtime at N30.00. per day. He was on that job for a year before switching to roadside trading (Hawking).
Due to continuous support from friends and loved ones, K-peace entered into the contest and gloriously emerged the winner . He was extremely shocked when his name was mentioned.
It was a destiny-changing event he wont forget in a long time. Now K-peace is N7.5 million richer, all-expense paid trip to Dubai, a Hyundai Sports Utility Vehicle and a N7.5 million recording deal with South Africa-based Universal Music label among other largesse.
K-peace started using his God-given talent when he was 15 in his school ….K-Peace won the hearts of judges, audience and viewers of the competition with his blend of the Fuji music with hip-hop.The 32-year-old took the competition by storm with a unique genre of music; the Fuji RnB which he calls a fusion of contemporary and Fuji music.
After coming top in the show, the singer has disclosed how he intends to spend his money in an interview
“Right now, the world has accepted it and I will keep at it. Apart from music, I am also into lease of musical equipment business. I have just few types of equipment that I give out for events and in this light, I will invest my money in that and also finish an uncompleted building with four mini flats and go into real estate family business.”
Today he has become an icon after continuous effort not to give up despite the harsh conditions .
Image Credit: BN