It is time for Africa to promote an intra-continental beauty pageant for Africans and people of African heritage, says, Tourism Icon, Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, as he unveils ‘Nefertiti Queen of Africa Beauty Pageant,’ as the 16th tourism product, out of the 52 he promised to release to the Tourism industry, to boost global tourism economy.
This pageant according to Otunba Wanle Akinboboye, will select a queen based on a beauty standard that Africans consider beautiful. The pageant, he said, will also celebrate the entrepreneurial skills and intelligence of the women of the African continent.
Expantiating further, the tourism icon, said he observed that currently the world’s leading beauty pageants are: Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth.
“While Africans can compete in these competitions, the reality is that to succeed, an African competitor’s appearance must conform with beauty standards set by the western world. This is likely, why to date, despite the its existence for over 70 years, only 5 African women have won the coveted Miss World title. Though Africa has secured the title of Miss Universe thrice, since its inception, it is pertinent that, on two of those occasions, the Africans that won were White South Africans.
“So, in selecting name for this pageant, cognisance has been taken into its historical perspective, as it is also meant to celebrate, the beauty and wisdom of an African woman, through the legendary Queen Nefertiti of Egypt, who embodied the ethos of the African woman, in her role to successfully navigate a relationship with a colonizing Rome, while she ruled over Egypt. A feat that points to great intelligence.”
Akinboboye went further to state that, the maiden edition of the pageant, will take place in Lagos during Ipada Carnival, and competitors would be drawn from all over Africa, the Caribbean and from people of African heritage in the Americas.
The grand prize would be a total of 54 plots of land situated in different countries in Africa, as well as equity holdings in some African companies, among other rewards. “The prize is to boost the entrepreneurial spirit and skills of the African woman, as winner would be encouraged and supported to leverage off on this, by creating economic benefits for themselves and the communities in which such land and equity is located.
“Watch out for the next forthcoming product, which will be another business product opportunity, for the tourism industry,” Otunba Wanle Akinboboye added.
