{"id":16275,"date":"2022-07-19T16:43:21","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T15:43:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/?p=16275"},"modified":"2024-10-28T15:34:21","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T15:34:21","slug":"from-accounting-to-afro-beats-the-incredible-journey-of-tiwa-savage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/kbs-news-events\/2022\/07\/from-accounting-to-afro-beats-the-incredible-journey-of-tiwa-savage\/","title":{"rendered":"From Accounting to Afro Beats: The Incredible Journey of Tiwa Savage"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kent Business graduate Tiwatope Savage, known as ‘The Queen of Afrobeats’ has achieved an\u00a0incredible music career that has produced four albums, 23 singles, and 10 music videos. Tiwa was\u00a0the first African woman to sell-out at the Indigo-02 and the first African woman to win the Best African Act at the 2018 MTV Europe Music Awards. <\/span><\/p>\n

The Kent alum, studied an undergraduate degree in Business Administration at KBS and was awarded an honorary doctorate this week for her incredible music career.<\/span><\/p>\n

She said: \u201cMy biggest experience since leaving Kent is coming back to receive this, actually. It means a lot because I remember the day of graduation. I didn\u2019t graduate with a first, and I was disappointed because I really wanted to do that for my parents, and look where I am today.\u201d <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As a result of her music success, Tiwa became the first African woman to be a brand ambassador for Pepsi and to appear on the front cover of Billboard Magazine\u2019s first issue devoted entirely to Africa. With an excess of 56 million of views on YouTube for the track \u201cSomebody\u2019s Son (featuring Brandy)\u201d, 15.3 million followers on Instagram \u2013 the most followed female African on social media – her work hosting Nigerian Idol, reality TV and acting, she is the very definition of a global celebrity.\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tiwa was born in Ikeja, Nigeria, her parents moved the family to Wembley, via Queens Park, London. As a teenager, Tiwa was a gifted musician, playing the trombone in the school orchestra before she found her voice as a singer, watching and eventually performing in Church and as part of a choir.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

By the age of 16, she was providing backing vocals for George Michael which led to other opportunities with artists such as Mary J. Blige, Andrea Bocelli and Ms Dynamite. Strong academically, with a business sense inherited from her mother, a business owner and father, an accountant, she joined the University of Kent in the late 1990s to study Business Administration, a discipline that she still uses every day. She explains:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnytime I\u2019m in boardrooms, anytime I\u2019m looking at negotiating contracts. I use it (my degree) in every single aspect of my career.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Tiwa enjoyed her time at Kent, but perhaps the most significant moment was when she joined the Afro Caribbean Society. This was her first taste of performing in front of an audience and she developed a local following \u2013 fans who would travel and eagerly await her Society performances. This was the springboard.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The superstar says her KBS education provided her with two main qualities – An eye for detail and the ability to speak with confidence. Even now, she displays an understanding of the profit and loss associated with her industry and business dealings and goes through contracts assiduously line by line.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThese skills are vital, regardless of the profession you find yourself in,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n