38 Miss Career Africa (MCA) 2020 contestants on Monday November 23, commenced their four-day boot camp at Seeds of Peace Hotel in Kayonza, Eastern province.
The contestants will go through a five-day boot camp, with a team of experts helping them in shaping their ideas into viable and scale-able business models.
Out of the 38 contestants, 15 will be selected to compete for the MCA crown.
Out of the contestants, 10 candidates are from the Southern, Western, and Eastern Africa regions, with five representing Rwanda, while Central Africa and Northern Africa will be represented by five and three candidates respectively.
The top 15 projects will be selected during the semifinals on Thursday November 26 and progress to the grand finale slated for Friday, November 27 at Marriott Hotel where a seven-judge jury led by musician Tom Close, will announce the best winning project.
The R&B singer and medical doctor will be joined on the panel by two other Rwandan judges, a Kenyan, a Zimbabwean, and two from the Netherlands.
The winner will succeed current crown holder Yvette Mukamwiza, and walk away with a whopping Rwf4.7m ($5,000).
In general, there are 11 crowns, worth a total of USD 11 000, are up for grabs in this year’s edition. They include Miss Region (5), Miss Arts and Talent, Miss Science and Technology Engineering and Mathematics (SEM), Miss Hospitality, Miss Agriculture, Miss Conservation, Miss Speaker and overall winner of Miss Career Africa.
Apart from the Miss Career, other crown winners will pocket a cash prize of USD 500.
According to organisers, the 18 contestants who were not be able to make it to Rwanda will follow the whole event online.
At the start of the competition, 50 candidates out of hundreds of the applicants, were selected across Africa based on their projects or businesses.
This was followed by a pre-selection online voting where the best contestants are chosen to join the boot camp.
Frank Rubaduka, the co- founder of MCA said aside from business, the contestants will be taken through other skills such as idea pitching, public speaking as well as other extracurricular activities based on their African cultural fusion and exchange programs, to help them understand and be familiar with each other’s cultures.
"We expect that through such teachings, contestants will be united and will be able to work together as a team. We intend to start developing and nurturing a new breed of female leaders whom we hope in future, having made it to Miss Career, can act as a foundation to establish diplomatic and economic relations across African countries,” he said.
He added that the entrepreneurs are expected to become skilled contributors to the workforce, nation builders and the captains of industries.
The winners in different categories will also get the opportunity to have incubation training for a period of six months.
About Miss Career Africa
The Miss Career Africa program empowers young women professionals, entrepreneurs and aspiring students through provision of university scholarships, career guidance, entrepreneurship incubation development, leadership training, and networking.
MCA’s vision is to create a movement of 450,000 young women entrepreneurs and professionals across Africa who will become trailblazers, take up responsibilities and carry the candles of influence in their respective countries.