Newly crowned Miss African Queen will wrap up a five-day working visit to Banjul today.A South African-born Miss Homfurdo Mbagiwa, arrived in the country on Sunday, accompanied by Ms Zynab Aysha Passah, Chief Executive Officer of XYZ, an event consortium in Ghana, which founded and organises Miss African Queen.

The 19-year-old beauty queen, who was crowned on September 8, alongside a Gambian first runner-up, Miss Amie Khan, was also accompanied to Banjul by other officials of the consortium.

At a press conference held at the Baramansa Restaurant, located at the giant multi-purpose edifice of Jeck Cham, on Bertiling Harding Highway, XYZ’s CEO said their visit was intended to introduce the queen and her Gambian counterpart to the Gambian public, as they are African ambassadors. Ms Passah said it is a tradition that visits are made to first-three beauty idols, after each contest.

She said the pageantry came to her as a dream to give African beauty more visibility and recognition, especially in the international arena. She paid tribute to Miss Khan for elevating the flag of The Gambia higher during the contest in Accra, describing the Gambian hospitality as “awesome”.

She told journalists that part of the visit was to introduce the concept to the business community in Banjul and explore possibilities of hosting the Third Edition in The Gambia. To host the event, she continued, consideration is given to the support from the business community, security, hospitality, good hotel accommodation, among other logistics. “We are open for business. It is a baby pageant, which has grown beyond my expectation,” she noted.

“It goes beyond beauty and just wearing a crown. It goes with social responsibilities. It is about intelligence,” Ms Passah said.

For her part, the newly crowned Miss Mbagiwa, enjoined African youths to adopt positive attitudes to move the continent forward. Miss Mjagainst poverty and hunger and help African kids who need humanitarian assistance.

First runner-up, Miss Amie Khan pledged to fight against teenage pregnancy.

Adoulette Sy, Director of African Beauties Modelling Agency, which recruited Miss Khan, expressed her satisfaction with The Gambia’s representative. She thanked President Yahya Jammeh for encouraging Gambian women. George Gomez of the Gomez Promotion, chaired the press conference, which was coordinated by Malick Mboob, Administrator of Linguere Magazine.