Mpule Kwelagobe

Mpule Kwelagobe
Mpule Kwelagobe in 2013 discussing her MPULE Institute for Endogenous Development addressing HIV/AIDS, food security and the feminization of poverty in Africa.
Born Mpule Keneilwe Kwelagobe
(1979-11-14) November 14, 1979
Gaborone, Botswana
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Title Miss Botswana 1997
Miss Universe Botswana 1999
Miss Universe 1999
Spouse(s) Abhijoy Gandhi
Beauty pageant titleholder
Hair color Black
Eye color Brown
Major
competition(s)		 Miss Botswana 1997
(Winner)
Miss World 1997
(Unplaced)
Miss Universe Botswana 1999
(Winner)
Miss Universe 1999
(Winner)

Mpule Keneilwe Kwelagobe (born November 14, 1979) is a Botswanan investor, politician, businesswoman, model, and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1999. She was the first black African woman to win an international beauty pageant title. Kwelagobe has been recognized as a human health rights activist, especially for her fight against HIV/AIDS and advocacy for youth and women to have greater access to sexual reproductive education and services. She is the co-founder of QuesS Capital LLC, a private equity firm with investments in financial services, renewable energy and agriculture in Africa and South Asia.

Miss Botswana

In August 1997, Kwelagobe became the youngest woman to be crowned Miss Botswana at the age of 17 years. She was a high school student at Lobatse Secondary School. Kwelagobe represented her country in the Miss World pageant in 1997 in Mahe, Seychelles but did not place. In February 1999, she won the inaugural Miss Universe Botswana, becoming the first woman to be crowned Miss Botswana twice. She was the first Miss Universe Botswana and the first Miss Botswana to participate in the Miss Universe pageant.

Miss Universe

Kwelagobe arrived in Port of Spain on May 5, 1999 for the Miss Universe 1999 pageant, which was held on May 26 in Chaguaramas Convention Center, Trinidad & Tobago. She beat 84 other delegates to win the Miss Universe pageant. Kwelagobe became the first Miss Universe to come from a debuting nation since 1958. She arrived in her new home of New York City two days after being crowned Miss Universe. For the duration of her reign she lived in Trump Place and worked in Trump Tower as Donald J. Trump was the owner of the Miss Universe pageant in partnership with CBS.

Following her reign as Miss Universe, Kwelagobe became a spokesmodel for Clairol. The two page ads first appeared in magazines in the U.S. while Kwelagobe was Miss Universe. In 2002, she became the first Miss Universe to enter an Ivy League university following her reign.

Goodwill ambassador

In 2000, Kwelagobe was appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador by the United Nations, focusing on youth and HIV/AIDS. Among others, she has addressed the World Summit on Sustainable Development, the Least Developed Countries conference, the World Youth Summit and the United States Congress (the United States House of Representatives Committee on Banking and Financial Services). Kwelagobe testified on the socioeconomic impact of AIDS in Africa and proposed a bill to set up a World Bank AIDS prevention trust fund.[1]

Awards

In 2001, Kwelagobe was honored with the Jonathan Mann Health Human Rights Award by the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC).[2] She was honored alongside the principal administrator of the European Commission HIV programme, Lieve Fransen. In 2003, she was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow (GLT) by the World Economic Forum, and in 2006, she was selected by the same organisation as a Young Global Leader (YGL). [3]

Other activism

In 2015, Kwelagobe signed an open letter which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed to Angela Merkel and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in South Africa respectively.[4]

Education

Kwelagobe holds a degree in Political Science (international political economy) from Columbia University in New York City. She sits on the board of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, a pan-African network of Centers of Excellence in mathematical sciences founded by 2008 TED Prize winner and quantum physicist, Professor Neil Turok. [5]

References

  1. ↑ http://www.womenspolicy.org/source/hivaids-subject-of-banking-committee-hearing/
  2. ↑ "UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador Wins Jonathan Mann Award for AIDS Work". United Nations Population Fund. 19 November 2001. Retrieved 2 March 2018.
  3. ↑ https://www.unfpa.org/press/world-economic-forum-selects-unfpa-goodwill-ambassador-global-leader-tomorrow
  4. ↑ Tracy McVeigh. "Poverty is sexist: leading women sign up for global equality | Life and style". The Guardian. Retrieved 2015-05-08.
  5. ↑ https://www.nexteinstein.org/ourboard/ms-mpule-kwelagobe/?lang=en
Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Trinidad and Tobago Wendy Fitzwilliam		 Miss Universe
1999		 Succeeded by
India Lara Dutta
Preceded by
First Edition		 Miss Universe Botswana
1999		 Succeeded by
Joyce Molemoeng
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.