Beauty and brains to win Miss India Worldwide Kenya

The Miss India Worldwide Kenya (MIWK) pageant was launched in 2000. But after that, there was a 15-year hiatus that only got broken two years back.

This international beauty-and-brains pageant was revived in 2015 and Saturday night, the final competition for the 2017 MIWK will be held at the new Diamond Plaza 2 in Parklands.

It took the 24 year old 2015 MIWK award winner Aliza Rajah to confirm the continuity of this unique beauty competition. She organised both the 2016 contest and is working on the current MIWK.

The Kenyan winner will head to New York City to the Miss India Worldwide headquarters where the pageant will feature among finalists from 40 countries.

The 40 are countries where sizeable Indian communities reside and contribute to their respective economies. Among the countries to be represented at the finals are Australia, Canada, Spain, South Africa, UK and USA.

Aliza didn’t win in New York in 2015. But that didn’t dampen her appreciation for the competition. On the contrary, at last Saturday night’s press conference at the new Concord Hotel, she explained how she’d received so much in the process of going to the finals that she wanted to keep the competition alive for young Kenyan women.

“I felt like ‘a winner’ irrespective of whether I’d won or lost the contest,” she said. “Just being part of the event was an eye-opening experience,” added Aliza who now runs the MIWK contest through her company, Eventique. She also has a fashion line and a website. She also runs the Shesha Lounge in the Concord Hotel.

Finali Galaiya, 22 won the 2016 edition. She also did not win in New York. She’s been inspired ever since by a question at the MIW finals: “What would you do to bridge the gap between Asian and African Kenyans?”

She was challenged to the extent she now works with a number of charities, including one foundation led by Sarah Obama, the grandmother of the former US President Barack Obama.

Both Aliza and Finali say one of the most important things they gained from the pageant was self-confidence. It’s a quality that the MIWK choreographer and coach Bhargav Joshi, 25, hoped he’s instilled in the 10 contestants during the rigorous three-week training he just went through with them.

Aged between 17 and 26 years, the young women have been coached in everything from verbal skills, poise and presentation to walking the runway. On Saturday night, they’ll be wearing both Indian and Indo-Western fashions provided by Suvidha of India and Shenu Gadu of Nairobi respectively.

Joshi also taught them to perform together for the Saturday event, which is open to the public. Yesterday they displayed skills at the MIWK Talent Night at Concord Hotel.

A number of contestants last Saturday night appeared confident and calm. Most of them were students, like Hiral Gohil, 20, who is studying Business at the United States International University and is also a freelance artist.

Shivani Shah, 20, is a student of International Relations at Nottingham University who spends half her year in school; the other half she spends in Kenya working with charities like Freedom from Hunger and the Helping Hands Trust.

Shivani is also a former NTV children’s show presenter. She ‘anchored’ the G3 show from aged nine up until she was 18.

Judges who’ll be participating in both the Talent Night and tomorrow’s final pageant are a well-kept secret. Aliza would only disclose that they include members of the media, the arts and the business community.

The main sponsor of the Miss India Worldwide Kenya is Crown Paint.

Tickets to the MIWK pageant can be obtained tomorrow night at Diamond Plaza 2 or before the event either from the Concord Hotel or Shenu Fashions on General Mathenge Drive.