Miss Rwanda: A Platform to The World, leveraging the exposure
The year 2016 marked a major milestone for Miss Rwanda -Rwanda sent the first representative to Miss World, for the first time, the winner of Miss Rwanda participating in the global pageant, which has now been held for 69 years.
It was a major milestone because in the country’s history, Rwanda had never sent a contestant to the Miss World competition. The importance and value of the Miss World stage is immense. The contest has become a huge platform to advance global humanitarian issues.
The winner goes on to achieve a lot and use the global stage to advance debates on challenges affecting the world. Winning the Miss World crown is a prestigious feat for the country of origin of the winner.
Rwanda was first represented and the Miss World pageant by Miss Rwanda 2016, Jolly Mutesi, who participated in the contest which was held in Washington D.C, and won by Puerto Rican model and musician Stephanie Del Valle.
Though she did not win it, Mutesi’s participation was a key milestone and opened doors for other contestants to participate in the global contest.
“Generally, Miss Rwanda has been a key to very many closed doors of my life. It has enabled me to execute my duties, to give back to the community, to engage a very broad audience in my many projects,”
“There are very many different activities that I’ve been able to do from the time of my reign up to now. My key highlight is that I have been able to execute a project that is so dear to my heart, which are the intergeneration dialogues,” Mutesi says.
Miss Rwanda 2016 said that the project which she carries out annually aims at bridging the Gap between the young and older generation and aims at sensitizing the young people to be patriotic and be partners of development, by supporting government initiatives and programs so that we can be able to consolidate Rwanda’s achievements,” she adds.
Mutesi says that being the first to represent Rwanda at the global stage gave her a sense of pride because she was representing the country, not herself as a person.
“Being able to represent my country at such an international scene and I managed to even come among the top 20 for beauty with a purpose, in 119 countries, for the very first time, for me as a 19-year or 20-year-old, was a huge responsibility, Mutesi says.
She says the international pageant instilled in her a sense of responsibility and embracing responsibility beyond self. She has also been able to be part of international events and conferences as a result of that.
For Miss Rwanda 2017, Elsa Iradukunda, who also participated in the global beauty contest which took place in Shanghai, China, finishing among the Top 25 with Beauty with a Purpose and Top 5 who showcased their culture well.
Iradukunda said Miss World gave her an opportunity to not only meet and share experiences with other beauties from different parts of the world but also gave her the exposure she needed to see things from a different perspective.
“Miss Rwanda gave me an opportunity to be a role model to young girls and show them that their dreams are valid it also gave the opportunity to give back to my society by working on different projects such as organizing cataract surgery, paying tuition fees for 11 kids and many others,”
“Internationally it gave me the opportunity to showcase my beautiful culture on the Miss World stage where I came in the top 5 African countries to teach all the girls about our culture,” Iradukunda said.
Similarly, Miss Rwanda 2018, Liliane Iradukunda says Miss Rwanda impacted her life by giving her platform for exposure but also the responsibility of becoming a problem solver in her country.
“The Miss Rwanda platform changed my life in so many ways. Being Miss Rwanda is not simply a title but a position to serve our country,”
“Becoming Miss Rwanda gave me a lot of opportunities such as becoming a role model to other young girls, giving back to the society and representing Rwanda in an international beauty pageant (Miss World) and became one of the top 24 representatives with beauty with beauty.
Miss Rwanda 2019, Meghan Nimwiza participated in the 69th edition of the Miss World beauty pageant, which was worn by Jamaican beauty queen, Toni-Ann Singh. Meghan made it to the top 20 in the contest’s Beauty with a Purpose category.
“To me Miss World was a life changing experience. One that really opened my eyes to so many things that have been very helpful till now,”
“Being able to represent my country on an international stage and coming in the top 24 with the best beauty with a purpose project was a very big opportunity for me. I’ve learnt quite a lot from each and every country representative at miss world and the experience truly allowed me to see the beauty of diversity,” Nimwiza said.
Other former Miss Rwanda contestants who contested at the international level include Joanna Keza Bagwire, who contested in Miss Heritage Global 2015 and finished 4th while Shanita Umunyana went to Miss University Africa 2018 beauty pageant and scooped three awards. The Miss Rwanda 2018 first runner-up was awarded the “President’s Choice Award”, “Best Video Presentation Award” and “Best Social Work Award”.
In the same light, Miss Rwanda 2016 first runner-up, Peace Kwizera, made her country proud by winning Miss Naïades 2016, beating 12 other contestants from different African countries to the title in Cotonou, Benin.
She beat contestants from Togo, Nigeria, Benin, Cameroon, Togo, Burundi, Cote d’Ivoire, DR Congo, Ghana, Chad and Guinea.
