With a career spanning over 2 decades, iKECHUKWU Onuorah’s journey started as far back as 1998 doing work experience for HardZone Full-Service PR in Brixton where they oversaw everything that came from Def Jam Records into the UK. By 1999 he moved onto Black Kat Records, UK’s first black owned record label with an independent distribution deal with Sony as a member of their street team and quickly moved up the ranks to the personal assistant for the Bournemouth District Manager promoting artists such as Marissa Anglin and a very young Taio Cruz. Working with the labels street team gave him a fast-track experience into the world of club promotion and he soon found himself privately organising themed parties like swimming pool, pyjama and 70’s parties, plus weekly and monthly club nights alongside monthly open mic nights for the emerging UK RnB, Dance-Hall and Hip-Hop scene.

Between 2001 - 2004 he attended Westminster University Commercial Music - Business Pathway and it was here he set up Strictly Entertainment with Georgina Clarke. By his second year the music department furnished them with an office where they could run the business from. They collaborated and provided work for friends and colleagues from other degree courses cut across the university’s School of Media, Arts & Design, handling internal and external events alongside PR campaigns.

Post graduation he had the opportunity to work as Visiting Lecturer at Westminster University to redevelop and deliver the module, Music Business & The Live Music Industries, (part of the BA Hons level 4 programme). This opportunity was presented as a direct result of the nature of live events and concerts he was staging whilst a student, and by his second year in this role he was promoted to its Module Leader whilst extending his skill sets learning how to mark assignments for level 5 students alongside operating as a Final Project Mentor for level 6 student on their major projects.

His unconventional style of lecturing was soon recognised by City University and they also secured his services as the Course Leader for their Promoting & Staging A Live Music Event, part of their Cultural Industries Certificate - both positions running between 2005 - 2010.

In between these roles he was privileged to work with the Urban Soul Orchestra as a trainee manager and within a year became their full time manager working alongside music composer Stephen Hussey. Here he refined his business and administration skills negotiating, dealing with contracts, interacting with trade bodies, book-keeping, overseeing booking / tours along with all the logistics associated. This role enabled him to work with some of the A list UK recording artists of the time including Oasis, Take That, Mica, Groove Armada and X factor 2004 winner Steve Brookstein alongside world music musicians such as Nitin Sawhney, Natasha Atlas, Anushka Shankar, Ashwin Srinivasan, Steve Shehan, Imogen Heath, Akram Khan, Tina Grace, Karlos Edwards, Reena Bhardwaj, Ivan Hussey and Natty to name but a few, all between 2005 - 2008. His highlight during this period was being the Orchestra Fixer for The Nitin Sawhney & Friends BBC Proms and Electric Proms at the Royal Festival Hall and The Roundhouse Camden, respectively, 2007 and 2008.

Always keen to extend his knowledge, he took on another role as the full time Fixer and Tour Manager for the Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra which led to him working with Serious Music Producers between 2007 - 2009 as part of their Black Police Associations - Celebration of Life Annual Concert which took place at The Royal Festival Hall Southbank Centre showcasing acts such as Aswad, Courtney Pine, Sanchez D, Maxi Priest, Beverly Knight, Gregory Isaac, Yolanda Brown, Charleen Anderson, The Reggae Philharmonic Orchestra, Curtis Walker, Guvna B, Kersha Bailey plus many more...

A love affair soon emerged once again with teaching and mentoring when another opportunity presented itself between 2006 - 2008. This time it was with the Hackney based music education hub, Rising Tide as one of the key facilitators for their Hackney Impact Arts Academy Summer School programme that had an eventual UK chart topper and Brit Award Winner, Labrinth graduate from within its ranks.

By mid noughties 2nd and 3rd generation Africans in the UK were redefining their identity as Blacks of African heritage! There was a new sense of identity and pride partly expressed and propelled via African arts (music, fashion, literature, arts & crafts, food, culture etc) with Afrobeats as the catalyst. In 2009 he met fellow British-Nigerian entrepreneur Adetokunbo (T) Oyelola (CEO BlackGrape) and his artist Yolanda Brown at the Southbank Centre at one of the Gift of Life Concerts. T would later invite iKECHUKWU down to their new spot, BlackGrape Gastro Bar & Music Venue where he proposed iKECHUKWU comes on board to manage its day-to-day affairs. Always one for a brand-new opportunity, he accepted and became the manager staging back to back events in a 2-year period, half of which were Afrobeats orientated.

The venue was owned by T, Jazz Saxophonist Yolanda Brown and Comedian and TV personality Eddie Kadi.

By 2010, having attended numerous global music conferences over 5 years, iKECHUKWU saw that Africa was never on their agendas. He also spotted a huge knowledge gap between the emerging UK Afrobeats scene he was encountering and his industry contact from his past music business experiences, thus presenting an opportunity.

Throughout 2011 he started exploring ways to address this and the company Strictly Entertainment rebranded as Strictly Digital Music with new partners (Ramon Olaleye and Chiedozie Onuora) along with a new agenda (Plugging African Music In The West). By September 2011 they had planned a trip back to Nigeria for the first time in 13 years for him to meet with key gatekeepers from the music business industry they had been interacting with online over the last year. The visit saw them invited to the World Bank in Abuja to present their report on the Nigerian Music Industry and this informed their next approach and on their return to the UK their momentum gained them audiences amongst the elite international music industry governing bodies. They played a key role in introducing Afrobeats to the international music business further by championing and leading some of the early published music business reports such as Afrobeats – The Next Big Thing? Published by Music Week and the Territory Focus Africa Report, published by the British Phonographic Industries (BPI) between 2011 - 2013.

In 2012 the Africa Centre in the UK was exploring new ways of reinventing itself from a hub that championed Pan-African ideologies in the 60’s / 70’s (African literature, politicians in exile, to the home of the UK-Soul group Soul II Soul the 80’s). The 90’s saw the organisation gradually lose touch with the new Black Britain and by the noughties they were completely irrelevant! Strictly Entertainment were one of the companies brought in to suggest a PR shake-up and contribute to its execution. The outcome was The Africa Centre Summer Festival which they were involved with for 3 years taking place in the heart of Central London, Covent Garden showcasing contemporary African music, fashion, art, and food whilst celebrating the rich history of the African Centre. They oversaw the selection of artists, negotiations, bookings, tour management and stage management of the festival. Artist included Nneka, Asa, Fucking Boiz, Celloman, Kasai Masai, Kalakuta Express, Bunmi Thomas, Wale Ojo, The Venus Bushfires, Fuse ODG, DJ Edu, Shopsy Doo, Bonga, Simo Lagnawi, Studio Afro Latino and many more.

Around this same time, they set up The Afrobeats Educational Roadshow (TAER), the first UK based African music business platform dedicated to bringing Western music business corporations together where they could meet and interact with the emerging UK Afrobeats scene and launched in 2012 in association with the African Centre as part of its Summer Festival programme.

The event which delivered 8 series and ran between 2012 – 2015 was endorsed by The BPI, The Official Charts Company, PRS, PRS Foundation, BASCA, PPL, AIM, BMI, UK Music, Westminster University Commercial Music Department, Ravensbourne University, The UK Trade & Investment, The British Council, Black Music Research Unit, The Africa Centre, BBC, CokoBar, Smade Entertainment, Factory 78, The UK Nigerian DJ’s Association, DJAMedia, Vox Television, Ben TV, O Television, the NCC and COSON to name a few – Plus they staged 2 international series, the first in Nigeria, Lagos in association with UKTI 2015 and the second Houston at SXSW 2016. Additionally, iKECHUKWU has spoken at several conferences as a guest speaker or delivering keynote presentations on the African and Nigerian music industry.

In between 2013 to 2018 he also sat on the planning committee and was the Talent and Stage Manager for Nigeria’s annual music and arts festival Gidi Culture Festival.

In 2015 iKECHUKWU moved back to Nigeria to accept the role of COO of ACI Entertainment, a Nigerian based entertainment company which provides a range of services such as Audio / Music Production, Event management, Studio Facilities, Film and Television Content, Soundtrack Production and Radio Jingles.

After leaving ACI, iKECHUKWU was asked to be an African consultant for MusicAlly, a globally recognised music business e-learning platform for the modern music business. Here he took part in two of their conferences NY:LON 2019 where he presented a keynote presentation titled the African Music Market - An Overview, in London and as a panellist at The Sandbox Music Conference in New York later that same year.

From here he met the Orchard who were planning a move into Nigeria and after numerous conversations about this mission, in December 2019 he was offered the position as the Director of The Orchards Nigerian office overseeing its affairs in West Africa. He also sits on the board of Echo Music Foundation, a non-profit music development organisation, aiming to build capacity, and a vibrant music economy within Nigeria and is also the 2nd Vice President of the Artistes Managers Association in Nigeria (AMAN) overseeing training for managers as well as diplomatic relations with global music organisations.

You can occasionally catch IKECHUKWU writing for MusicAlly on their MusicAlly Experts monthly editorial bulletin.