On Sunday 29th of August 2010, Kolawole O.Michael on behalf of LensAfrik magazine decided to pay D. Nkwetato, the founder of Miss Africa in China, a visit to his home in Shanghai to know more about the Pageant, the contestants and the preparation for the second edition holding in Shanghai this year.

LensAfrik: Definitely I know you don't need an introduction to so many people that witnessed the Miss Africa in China Pageant last year in Beijing but then, for the benefit of those who are just entering China and those who are here in Shanghai, can you introduce yourself?

MAC: My name is Denis D. NKWETATO. In Africa we have many names so if I actually want to add my family names, then we will have about five names. I am the founder of the Miss Africa in China Pageant, an idea we came up with two years ago because we realized that many Chinese didn't know much about Africa. In fact, the little they knew about Africa was what they read online or watched on TV and we felt that they were not seeing the other side of Africa. So we thought we could promote the beautiful side of Africa. That's the main reason why we created the Pageant. When the idea came up I discussed it with my friends in Beijing: Octavius Ngwerume and his wife Marj Ngwerume, then we sat down and came up with what we call The Miss Africa in China Pageant today. The second edition is this year (2010) in Shanghai.

LensAfrik: From your observation, how was the reception by the Chinese, Africans and the International Community? Was it well applauded?

MAC: Well, the first edition in Beijing was well appreciated by the local Chinese population, the African Community and the rest of the International Community. One thing I noticed was that many people came to the Pageant last year out of curiosity. Most Chinese people came to see and feel African Models for the first time against other models they are used to seeing or watching on TV so it was curiosity that brought them. It was a point of attraction, a pulling factor. Then for the International Community, that is, those from Europe, The Americas, Oceania and Africa, it was something exciting but normal because it was not the first Miss Africa in the World. There is a Miss Africa USA Pageant, a Miss Africa UK Pageant, a Miss Africa Australia Pageant, New Zealand and other countries of the world with big African Communities. So China was like one of the only big countries still lacking on the list. Our brothers and sisters in Beijing welcomed the idea for one reason. They felt like, at last that was an opportunity for them to come out and show their pride and talents as Africans. This accounted for the over 1000 persons that showed up to witness the Pageant. They sang, danced, clapped and cheered up the girls and performers on the stage! It is an unforgettable moment in my life. I saw the African continent in Beijing that night, and we all felt at home. I saw Africans, low, high and mighty from Ambassadors to students. The unemployed joined without any complex to watch the show as one big happy family. That was the special thing about the Pageant last year in Beijing.  

LensAfrik: What would you call the Pains and Gains of the Pageant?

MAC: I will start with the troubles of the Pageant. I’d be telling you a big lie if I said it was easy to pull off something like that in Beijing – the capital of China. China is a country with unique differences; language, culture, lifestyle, etc. so to have come up with the first edition of the Pageant in Beijing, the capital of China we went through a very tough time but I considered it as a very good challenge because for every great thing that you see in the world today, the beginning wasn't easy. I was ready for the challenge and my friends were ready. The contestants too were ready for the challenge. That is why I will never thank them enough – I mean the girls who took part in the first edition - for their wonderful roles. Without them, the Pageant would not have been born. They made a lot of sacrifices, they took time off from their various duties, they bought dresses, some of them had to import dresses from Africa. Everybody sacrificed and I would say the success of the first edition was thanks to everybody including the Beijing Public Security Bureau that gave their consent. They too were in the hall watching and enjoying the show. The good part of it was that, when finally the girls were walking on the stage, many were surprised to see the talents and skills they had. When live bands like Afrokoko, Sisi Tambala and Danhansomme and others were on stage, drumming, singing and dancing people were thrilled. There were pains during the planning but our ability to finally showcase the beauty and hidden talents in Africa really swallowed up the pains.

LensAfrik: Can you tell us about the overall preparation towards this year's edition of the Pageant in Shanghai? Any new innovations?

MAC: After the first edition we learnt a lot, you know, the first edition was not easy. We listened to Criticisms from people. We heard what they were not happy about. A lot of people went to our website and wrote comments in our guestbook, some sent us emails, some came to meet us and advise us on what we should have done that we left undone and so on. So this year we are trying to correct the past errors before moving one step further. We are trying to bring everyone on board. We’re planning things carefully. This is why we are pushing the date farther and farther to ensure all hands are on deck before fixing the final date. The sponsors are coming out with their own requirements, they want to be promoted and we welcome them so we are planning everything carefully so that at the end of this Pageant our girls should be able to walk away and in fact everybody should be able to walk away with a big smile. Specifically, the big innovations this year will include a Chinese-African dress show which will involve African girls dressing in Chinese traditional dresses and Chinese girls dressing in African traditional dresses. This is one big thing that everyone is waiting for. Another innovation is the Miss. Internet Popularity Prize. This is a new prize that will be sponsored by an IT company that I don’t want to reveal now. Very soon their logo will be on the website. They are going to sponsor the prize of Miss Internet Popularity. We are placing a lot of value on this prize because we think that the fact that the Pageant is taking place in Shanghai shows that only about 10% of the people who really want to take part in this contest are represented. The Miss Internet Popularity prize is given to the winner of the online voting contest which will begin very soon. There will be an online vote running for one month. Participants from Africa and other parts of the world will be able to visit the website and cast a vote for their favorite contestants. This is a way of involving those who can not be in Shanghai so wherever you are in the world, you can also contribute. At the end of that voting phase the girl with the highest number of votes will win the prize Miss Internet Popularity. That prize will be awarded by the IT company on the day of the Pageant. You bet the website will be jammed! Imagine the whole of Lagos or Abuja voting online. Thirdly there is going to be a serious business dimension to the Pageant this year. Last year it was all about culture but this year we are bringing in the business dimension. This means a lot of Chinese business persons who are interested in investing in Africa will be involved. For this reason companies have contacted us for a list of directories of companies in Africa that they can do business with and now we are preparing that. Then there is going to be a small forum where Chinese business persons can actually meet Africans and introduce their products, exchange business ideas and work out possibilities of business representatives. That is a big innovation because these are the same companies that are looking forwards to investing in Africa and when the forum comes up we will invite media companies like LensAfrik to come and see what we are doing. That is a big innovation. I think these are the three major things that will make the Pageant in Shanghai different from that of last year.

LensAfrik: Thanks for the all the details. Can you tell us the names of those who have shown interest in participating in this year's Pageant and their Country of origin?

MAC: That's right...Registration is still going on and you know, girls are not easy to come by. Most of the girls we are talking about are students and so they have a lot to do. Most of them are university students. So far we already have ten contestants: Jillhanna Yabe from Ghana, Henriette Mboumo from Gabon, Forgiveness and Babiana from Zimbabwe, Jackline and Doris Kwaka from Kenya, Kaina Konga from Zambia, Fatima from Morocco and Stella from Madagascar. We are still waiting for contestants from other popular countries like Nigeria, South Africa not forgetting my beloved country Cameroon. We are giving everyone a chance. We will only close registration when the online voting begins. Girls out there, you are still welcome, send in your pictures and come on board. Who knows? You could be the next queen!

LensAfrik: So have you fixed a specific date for the Pageant?

MAC: Yes, we have moved it to December. December is a festive period. People are tuned to things like this. Again we believe that we would have finalized every negotiation and arrangement with all our sponsors and then our girls would be sure to walk away with hectic prizes. And then like I said, there is going to be the business forum thing so we need time to organize those companies. Some of those companies that are sponsoring want the girls to pose for their products and advertise their products so we definitely need two or three more months but the online voting will begin in November. All the contestants will have a one week training workshop then after that the final thing will be the Pageant. We are expecting that an Airline company will offer the queen a Christmas trip to Africa with some Chinese business men and women. It’s going to be like Tourism mixed with Business so this year's Miss Africa will be leading a group of business men and women from China to Africa. Think about our Queen showing them the beauty of Africa! This is the plan and we are working hard to make it happen.

LensAfrik: Any last word for fellow brothers and sisters from Africa?

MAC: Well I just want to tell fellow brothers and sisters out there that this is our thing! It’s not something in an Embassy where you would say oh it’s for diplomats or Government people...This is our thing.....I am a hustler like you...come out and support...if you give a flyer to someone you have done something, if you buy the ticket, you have done something, if you urge a girl to participate, you have done something...if you inform people about the show in Shanghai you have done something for the Pageant. If you go to the website and vote for someone you have done something so come on board. If you have an African business that you want to showcase tell us and we will support. We are calling on all media companies based in Africa: TV Channels, Radio Stations, Newspapers and Magazines that want to cover the show. We will make a good deal for them and they will be able to get the whole show on DVD and then broadcast it in Africa during the festive Christmas month. My appeal is that everyone should come on board and know that this is our thing, we are trying to sell the image of Africa in China - the most populous country in the world. Further information shall be announced via the website  www.missafricainchina.com