Miss Sierra Leone Ltd re-launched

It’s a simple but classy occasion, the re-launch of Miss Sierra Leone Limited and launching of Miss Sierra Leone 2013 activities at the Sierra Light House, Aberdeen, Freetown, graced by eminent personalities and entertainment celebrities who have made proud attempts in flying the national flag internationally.  (Photo: Miss Sierra Leone Ltd., changing the face of national pageant)

Past Miss Sierra Leone and other national pageants title holders including Stella Bangura and Hawa Kamara; Big Brother celebs Bassie and Zainab Sheriff, TV host Ellen Keister, CEO of salonejamboree.com Murtala Mohamed Kamara, actor Desmond Finney were just few of the big names in attendance.

And talking about eminent personalities, the Miss Sierra Leone Limited directors are a diverse and formidable group: Dr. Adonis Aboud of DSTv and Pikin Bisnes fame as Chairman; former Minister of Finance Mr. David Carew; proprietress of popular fashion house Swank Couture Mrs Jenneh Amara Bangalie; Mrs Dunni Chaloba of Akwaba; Mrs Shelac Sonny-Davies of the association of non-governmental organisations;  Director of Premier Media Consultancy Ltd Dr. Julius Spencer; legal practitioner Mrs Jacqueline Hope as the company’s lawyer;  Ms Amie Dumbuya Managingof BSI Project Manager of MASSADA, sleek vibes MC Mr. Denis Nelson-Streeter, a young man with a genuine passion for pageants Mr. Lamarana Jalloh of First Phase International as the group’s manager, and the Director of Culture in the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

Registered in 2001 as a not-for-profit company with the primary objective of organising national competitions to select a beauty queen for the country, it took the Miss Sierra Leone Limited company more than a decade to regroup and re-launch following the tragedy of the first national queen in 2002, Anniemaude Cole, who died in mysterious circumstances shortly after she was crowned.

Between this period, countless pageants have been organised by questionable organisations and groups of individuals under questionable circumstances that have produced equally questionable young women to represent Sierra Leone on the international stage.

Chairman Dr. Adonis Aboud said the re-launch of the company, which has been accredited by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, is geared towards institutionalising the organisation of national beauty pageants.

“We want to end this insanity in national beauty pageants and start doing things the right way. We’ll organise auditions all over the country in search of sweet, deserved girls. They should be worthy of the flag and should be treated as such,” said Dr. Aboud, adding that they will nevertheless pay homage to all beauty queens who have represented Sierra Leone over the past years.

The Manager of the group, Lamaran Jalloh, said the new concept of beauty is not just about the outside features but also inside.

“We want them to be role models for young women in Sierra Leone,” said Jalloh while going through the concept of the Miss Sierra Leone Limited.

He said potential Miss Sierra Leone contestants will go through challenges that will make them outstanding and outspoken women.

The official re-launching was done by the wife of the Honourable Vice President Mrs Sam Sumana, deputising the First Lady who was originally billed to do the re-launch as patron of the Miss Sierra Leone Limited.

The night was spiced up with live band performances from Estar and the Quick 5 led by Singer and song wirter Estar Michael. The group performed five copyright songs: Whitney Houston’s; ‘Greatest Love of All’; Adele’s ‘Someone like you’; Asa’s ‘Jailer’ and ‘Fire on the mountain’; Bruno Mars’ ‘Talking to the moon’ and ‘Summer time’ from the Motown hits.

 Miss Sierra Leone Limited has now been revived and wishes to undertake the task for which it was established on a sustainable basis

Miss Sierra Leone Ltd was registered as a not-for-profit company in 2001 with the primary objective of organising national competitions to select a beauty queen for the country in a transparent and respectable manner and to ensure that the company is well represented at international pageants like Ms ECOWAS, Ms West Africa, Ms World and Ms Universe.

The Company also seeks to ensure that Ms Sierra Leone becomes a truly national icon of all-round beauty that will be properly provided for during the reign of each queen, supporting her in charitable works and ensuring she serves as a positive role model for young women in the country, inspiring them to become responsible and respectable citizens.

Unfortunately, the winner of the very first competition organised by the company in 2002 died in tragic circumstances shortly after being crowned. The controversy surrounding this tragic incident caused Miss Sierra Leone Limited to put its activities into abeyance. The consequence of this has been the appearance on the scene of a number of individuals and groups organising competitions to select a national beauty queen, which have been poorly resourced and lack credibility. This has resulted in Sierra Leone being poorly represented at international competitions, and even resulted in our representatives being stranded in foreign lands on a number of occasions.

Miss Sierra Leone Limited has now been revived and wishes to undertake the task for which it was established on a sustainable basis.

The company has been accredited by the Ministry of Tourism and Culture as the sole organisation mandated to organise national beauty pageants and to oversee all pageants that involve selecting representatives to international pageants.

The current directors of the company are Dr. Adonis Aboud (Chairman),  Mr. David Carew, Mrs Jenneh Amara Bangalie, Mrs Dunni Chaloba, Mrs Shelac Sonny-Davies,  Dr. Julius Spencer, Mrs Jacqueline Hope, Ms Amie Dumbuya, Mr. Denis Nelson-Streeter, Mr. Lamarana Jalloh and the Director of Culture in the Ministry of Tourism and Culture.

The patron of Miss Sierra Leone is the First Lady, Mrs. Sia Koroma.

The Miss Sierra Leone 2013 competition will involve auditions in each of the districts to select a district representative, culminating in the national Miss Sierra Leone pageant on 20^th December in Freetown. The entire process will be made transparent partly through a reality TV show to be broadcast on national television.

By Ahmed Sahid Nasralla (De Monk)

Stay with Sierra Express Media, for your trusted place in news!

© 2013, https:. All rights reserved.