The Brent entrepreneur who founded a global platform celebrating "music of Black origin" has received an honorary degree.

Kanya King was made an honorary doctor of music by from the University of West London (UWL) senior pro-vice chancellor Sara Raybould.

The entrepreneur founded the MOBO Awards in 1996 celebrating British music influenced and inspired by Black music.

She said: “When I embarked on my journey, I never realised how important having perseverance, drive and a clear purpose was. This gave me strength and motivation to pursue my goals whenever I faced rejection.”

Kanya was born in Kilburn as the youngest girl of nine children and re-mortgaged her own house to fund the first MOBO production.

Since then, MOBO has grown into a worldwide phenomenon and provided an early platform for artists like Stomrzy, Craig David, Little Simz and Krept & Konan.

The entrepreneur said she did not imagine achieving what she had when she left school aged 15 without any qualifications.

She described her purpose as “to empower underrepresented creatives from similar backgrounds to me to be able to live up to their potential and take control of their own destiny”.

%image(14497605, type="article-full", alt="Kanya King founded MOBO as a celebration of "music with black origin"")

Senior pro-vice chancellor Sara Raybould said during the ceremony: “Kanya has displayed the drive and ambition to help take British Black music from the margins of popular culture to the heart of mainstream culture, in the UK and worldwide.

“I know there are generations of Black people who would want to thank you for changing their lives if they were standing here today. So, thank you for your amazing work, for your inspiration, your bravery, your passion and your vision. You have given a true opportunity to so many people.”

MOBO recently launched MOBOLISE, a career and networking platform which aims to support creative talent and establish a level playing field for young Black talent in the workplace.

Kanya was awarded an MBE in 1999 and a CBE in 2018 and was proclaimed one of Britain’s most influential Black people by Thomson Reuter and JP Morgan’s Power List.