Junior Miss Botswana (JMB), a beauty pageant for children aged between 6-14 years has this year managed to attract 44 finalists who will be participating in the finale. The girls who have been selected based on confidence and beauty are now busy preparing themselves for the big day which is on the 2nd of November at Phakalane Golf Estate.??One of the organisers of the event, Rumbi Chakamba mentioned that JMB is an initiative of two modelling agencies, Supermodel Inc and Madam Queen modelling agency.
“Our aim is to groom young girls with an interest in modelling and hopefully want to make it big in the modelling scenes because we strongly believe they are the future queens of this country,” she said.??She added that the pageant started in 2012 where they managed to crown Kammilah Mohamed as queen. “Last year we expanded and divided our contestants into 2 age groups, 6-9 and 10- 14years old, because we wanted to give the kids a chance to compete with each other based on their ages. We wanted a fair competition rather than pairing older kids with younger one,” she said.??Chakamba said they did not have any special selection method they were looking at when selecting the contestants. She said, they were choosing girls based on their love for modelling and confidence, and not necessary on their body types or the way they walk.??”
This is solely because we provide a training program free of charge for the finalists as they prepare for the finale, this way they are in a position to know all the ins and outs of being in a beauty contest. We prepare their minds; so body type and height at this moment is not really important as they are still young,” she said.??She continued that this year the turn out at the auditions were large as they had to end up with 44 contestants instead of the normal 20 they usually have.??She said,┬áas part of the competition, the finalists are part of a big sister program with child line as each of them has adopted a little sister/ brother from the home.??”The finalists have embarked on different fundraising initiatives at their schools and in their communities to raise funds for their little sisters and brothers and to raise awareness about the needs of special kids,” she said.??
She further said this is the focus of all their queens once crowned. “They will continue to work with the home and decide on ways to help the kids. They also continue with their modelling and work with the two agencies during their reign,” she said.??This work includes; professional photo shoots as they take part in fashion shows as well as participating in print adverts. Chakamba said this work is then compiled into a book that shows the work they have done as a model and the book is in a position to help them get modelling jobs in the future.??She concluded that apart from a professional modelling portfolio and a year of being trained by the two agencies, the winners will also win beauty hampers on the night of crowning.
