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Perfect homecoming for Kachi as Lagos celebrates brain squad

By Eniola Daniel
12 October 2019   |   4:03 am
In what could be termed as a perfect home coming gig, Kechi Okwuchi showed Nigerians why her 2017 finalist spot in the American’s Got Talent show wasn’t a fluke...

Kechi (middle) in performance

In what could be termed as a perfect home coming gig, Kechi Okwuchi showed Nigerians why her 2017 finalist spot in the American’s Got Talent show wasn’t a fluke, as she blew the minds of audience at this year’s Celebration of Super Women.

The event was organised to celebrate the Brain Squad girls, Pandora Onyedire, Ayomikun Ariyo, Ivana Mordi, Jadesola Kassim and Munachiso Chigbo, the five young Nigerian girls, who emerged finalists at the 2019 Technovation World Pitch Summit at Silicon Valley for creating an app to help finance an education for indigent children called Handsout.

Speaking on the concert, Kechi, said, “It’s a huge honour for me to be back, first of all, to my home country; performing in my own country. I’ve been back twice before; the first time was to honour the memories of those that passed away in the Sosoliso accident of December 2005. So, I came back in 2015, for the 10th year anniversary of the accidents. And the second time was last year, when I was invited by a company to speak during one of their education series, which was also a good opportunity for me to come home and see family and friends.”

She continued: “So, it’s really an honour to be doing this for the first time. But also to be doing this for Standard Bearers School representing what they stand for, powerful women, women who are putting themselves out there and setting themselves on paths, perhaps never been walked before, or perhaps mainly walk by men. So, I feel like this is really monumental for the school and for me. I’m really honoured to be sharing this milestone moment in my life with the school that embody the quality I believe in,” she said.

The singer said she’s honoured to be able to share her music very directly with the biggest support group that she ever had.

“Most of the people that follow me, that care about what’s going on in my life are Nigerians and like more than 70 per cent of my followers on all social media platforms are Nigerians. That shows me that we take care of our own, and we support our own and that’s all I felt since I’ve been back.

On her feeling coming to perform at a concert for the first time, she said, “it feels almost like a homecoming. First of all, it’s amazing that the school wanted me to be part of their programme, but it’s also amazing that, we’re able to draw this number of people to come and honour SBS, and also to hear me sing.

“It’s an honour to be able to have that recognition in America, but it means so much to me to have that kind of response from people that live in my home country, from where I’m from, and it was a whole different kind of feeling, because I feel I’m being accepted by my own people.”

On her part, Executive Director, Standard Bearers School, Modupe Adeyinka Oni, said, “I’m sure you’re wondering, who are super women now? One of them needs no introduction; Kechi, we all know her as the miracle girl, who survived the Sosoliso plane crash. Kechi has moved on from that. She took what life threw at her and she turned it around, and she’s become that person that the whole world is listening to.

“We also have the Brain Squad girls. When we came back from Silicon Valley, where they won a competition, and they went on to build an educational funding app, which is to fund the education of less privileged children around the world.”

The concert, according to Oni, is part of celebration of the school’s 22 anniversary.

“SBS has been here for 22 years, we’ve been very quiet but we’ve done a lot of amazing things,” she noted.

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