Akua GMB And 2 Other Former Ghanaian Beauty Queens Who Own Thriving Businesses After Pageant

• Beauty pageants such as Ghana's Most Beautiful, Miss Ghana, and Miss Malaika, among others, have helped produce gorgeous queens who have played significant roles in society
• Ghana's Most Beautiful 2011 winner, Akua GMB, became General Manager of Angel TV until she started her own production house, Jaya and Jay Production and other ventures
• Hamamat Montia won Miss Malaika back in 2006 and moved back home to start a shea butter business and a spa, Hamamat African Village, after being inspired by her daughter
• Miss Ghana 2002 winning queen, Shaida Buari, now runs a successful oil and gas company with her husband

Beauty queens have unique individual stories. More often than not, ladies participate in beauty pageants to harness their inner potential and talent and gain platforms to promote their passion projects. After the pageants end and a winner is crowned, life goes on. The girls then embark on their various journeys.

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Over the years, there have been many beauty queens who have turned out as business owners. YEN.com.gh shares the entrepreneurial journeys of three former Ghanaian beauty queens.

1. Sally Akua Amoakoaa Mensah, Ghana's Most Beautiful 2011 winner

Sally grew up dreaming of becoming a TV presenter someday, but as life would have it, she had to pursue business at the then Kumasi Polytechnic instead.

The gorgeous young lady shot to fame after auditioning for the 6th edition of TV3 Ghana's beauty pageant, Ghana's Most Beautiful. She represented the Ashanti Region and ended up winning the pageant.

In an interview, she spoke about how she benefitted from the well-known pageantry;

"Ghana's Most Beautiful gave us the opportunity to become very confident. Prior to that I was very timid so It helped a lot. It also showed us how to network and interact with different people and exposed us to many opportunities", she said.

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The former beauty queen married Ghanaian business magnate Dr Kwaku Oteng at 21 years and eventually became the General Manager of one of his companies, Angel TV.

Today, Akua GMB, as popularly known, is the CEO of several businesses; Jaya and Jay Production, Jewel Fashion, co-founder of Miss Golden Stool and the founder of StreetAid Ghana. She believes that her former husband has played an essential role in the kind of businesswoman she is today.

2. Hamamat Montia, Miss Malaika 2006 winner, now CEO of Hamamat African Village

Hamamat Montia is known by many as the African goddess who loves to promote the continent and the indigenous way of life of the people. The gorgeous lady participated in and won the Miss Malaika beauty pageant in 2006.

Years after the pageant, the former beauty queen started her first business, which was selling shea butter, and according to her, her then 3-year-old daughter was the inspiration behind it. In an interview, she shared how that happened;

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"My business started when my 3-year-old returned from school and said she wanted long hair like Cinderella. I was really disturbed because, as a proud African woman, I wondered if other African children felt like my daughter. It was then that I realised that I had to try to become that role model.

I started showcasing my culture and teaching people about my culture on social media. There was a day when I filmed about shea butter, and it went viral, and that is how my business started that", she said.

According to the now mother of 3, venturing into the e-commerce market has tremendously impacted her business. She revealed selling out in three days when she first set up her products online.

Her initial challenge was that local people did not understand and believe in what she was doing when she first started but thankfully, she attracted clients from different parts of the world, which has made her business what it is today.

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Hamamat also owns the Hamamat African Village, a place where you may unwind surrounded by nature. They walk you through the process of how the earth-loving African ancestors who had a strong connection to it took care of their health, complexion, and beauty utilizing natural materials from their surroundings at the village. As you unwind and enjoy their services, they can perform a variety of scrubs on you; all of the ingredients utilized are natural.

3. Shaida Buari, Miss Ghana 2002 winner, co-founder of oil and gas company, ENERGEM

Shaida Buari, now Nubi was crowned as Miss Ghana 2002 at the age of 20. After the pageant, she went on the represent the country in Miss World 2003.

Her first job after being crowned beauty queen was the establishment of an NGO called Helplink Foundation which helps cater for the hospital bills of sick children. In 2011, she married a businessman called Kunle Nubi and with whom she established an oil and gas company called ENERGEM.

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Shaida is also the brain behind the popular Facebook page, Tell It Moms with over 340,000 members. She created the group while pregnant with her son back in 2013. The goal was to provide a platform where mothers and moms-to-be could share and receive various parenting and childcare tips.

The Miss Ghana former queen is a huge advocate of women particularly when it comes to sexual abuse towards women. In an interview, she shared her displeasure about women who are always faced with demands for sex from men in powerful positions. She recounted a personal experience:

"I've come across a lot of men who insisted that they have sex with me in exchange of sponsorships after the Miss Ghana Pageant. Even in the oil and gas field where I work now, there have been several times that some clients asked for certain sexual favours", she said.

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Shaida shared her desire to collaborate with celebrated Ghanaian journalist Anas to expose men who demand sex in return for favours.

Zakiya Ahmed: 19-year-old University of Ghana Student Crowned Miss Malaika 2022

Still on Ghanaian beauty queens, YEN.com.gh earlier reported that Zakiya Ahmed, a 19-year-old Psychology student at the University of Ghana, Legon, won the coveted title of Miss Malaika 2022.

The 2022 edition of the glorious pageant took place at the Grand Arena of the Accra International Conference Centre (AICC) on Saturday, November 12.

Ahmed defeated fierce competition from nine other contestants to win the prestigious crown at the grand finale and homecoming celebration, making history as the first queen in hijab to win the title in the history of the beauty contest.

Miss Malaika Ghana, a prestigious beauty pageant organised by Charterhouse, was founded in 2002. The pageant has churned out several well-groomed and well-placed queens in various industries, from health to technology, finance to petroleum, construction to agriculture, broadcasting to tourism, and more.

Source: YEN.com.gh