Beauty queen's initiative to make world a better place

"Do what you can, with what you have, where you are." so goes a quote by Theodore Roosevelt.

Seemingly living by the quote, Ivy Marani, a model, has embarked on a daunting initiative which she hopes will help make the world a better place through the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“I wanted something that will have a global impact and that will leave the world a better place by 2030 when the SDGs will be coming to an end,” she said.

Marani, 27, is the founder and president of Miss Global Vision, an international beauty pageant.

She successfully and single-handedly hosted the launch of the franchise this year, with the theme Beauty for Sustainable Development Goals at Diani hotel at the Coast between October 18 and 30, culminating in the crowning on November 4.

Tanzania, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Ethiopia, Ghana, Sudan, Namibia and Botswana are some of the countries that participated in the competition.

Marani said the launch of the franchise was to be held in 2019 but the outbreak of the Coronavirus forced the cancellation of the event due to travel restrictions across the globe.

“We felt it was going to be unnecessarily expensive for contestants from the UK, Italy and Philippines who had confirmed participation to come and isolate in Kenya and then go for isolation again once back in their countries and just canceled their visit,” she said.

Marani began modelling back in high school and continued in campus where she was crowned miss tourism Kimilili 2015. In 2016 she was crowned miss tourism Kakamega.

She then founded Baip Kenya which trained over 20 beauties in Kakamega county where Cindy Isendi won.

Marani was Miss Supra National Kenya in 2018 and represented the country in Poland. The following year she represented Kenya in Colombia where she was crowned the most beautiful woman in the competition.

Last year, she spread her beauty pageant initiative to countries that had shown interest like Uganda and Tanzania which were receptive to the idea as she waited for the Covid-19 positivity rate to go down.

"I have been a model for years. I have done international runways and most of the beauty pageants have been beauty for humanity or beauty for charity," Marani said.

She said she chose the SDGs as the theme of the event because many people, not only in Kenya but across the globe, do not understand what the goals are all about, yet there is a lot of money being given out to fund the goals and African countries were being left out.

“I thought if beauty pageants are held in countries across the world, the contestants could be used by their respective governments and other organisations as ambassadors to sensitise the populations about the SDGs, whose effective implementation will result in a better world,” she said.

She said Zimbabwe had already picked up and created a kitty for Miss Zimbabwe to push the SDG on food security.

Marani said there is a lot of money being released by the UN to assist developing countries improve education, health and other sectors, adding that African counties should also benefit.

The 17 SDGs are; zero hunger, good health and well being, quality education, gender inequality, water and sanitation, affordable clean energy, decent work and economic growth, industry innovation and infrastructure, reduce inequalities, responsible consumption and products, climate action, life below water, peace justice and strong institutions and partnerships for goals.

The SDGs or Global Goals are a collection of 17 interlinked goals designed to be a "blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all".

They were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are intended to be achieved by the year 2030.

“Our main issue is to lay emphasis on the implementation of the SDGs so that the world can be a better place by 2030,” she said.

“We had MDGs, now we have SDGs which will end and other goals will be set and so we will continue implementing goals over years,” he said.

“I saw how African countries were being perceived and that is what pushed me to make a difference. I thought that if I started something in Kenya and Africa, it will require beauties from other continents like Europe to also come to Africa and participate in the event,” she said.

Marani said she is keen on securing UN and corporate bodies support to achieve her goals.

And just like any other initiative, Marani says she encountered some challenges in hosting the launch.

She said the hardest part was securing a venue for the event as not many people believed in her dream. Hotel owners questioned whether the event would add value to their businesses.

“I was to hold the event in Kisumu but I was told at the last minute that they were not sure of the impact of the event given I had not held such an event before.

I ended up in Diani hotel where they were receptive to my idea and because I had no sponsors, I had to use up my Sh4.5 million saving to finance the event,” she said.

“None believes in your ideas until they come to fruition,” she said.

Marani says the event will be bigger and better next year as it will feature over 80 countries.

-Edited by SKanyara