Abena Akuaba is positioning Miss Afrikana International as far more than a beauty pageant, presenting it as a platform built around African pride, female leadership and future-ready education. The aim, as she describes it, is to give women who are proud of their African ancestry a space for identity, self-respect, culture, education and access to income, reaching well beyond pageant tradition.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/23R-IBcKfI4
Putting African Pride At The Centre
Akuaba's message focuses on women treating their heritage as a source of pride and personal strength rather than something to downplay for acceptance. That framing gives Miss Afrikana International a distinct identity, speaking to women who want to pursue leadership and opportunity while staying rooted in their culture.
Speaking in an interview with pageant vlogger Luis Portelles, she summed up the intent behind the platform:
Miss Afrikana International gives women the power to be a leader.Abena Akuaba
The platform is described as a home for women who can honour their ancestry and embrace their African roots while claiming a larger future on their own terms.
Rethinking What Beauty Represents
According to Akuaba, the goal is to move past a narrow definition of beauty and give women room to share stories tied to culture, pride, leadership and self-belief. She describes the mission as:
Telling a story and changing the stereotype of beauty.Abena Akuaba
In that vision, beauty becomes intertwined with education, identity, leadership and entrepreneurship, so that women can be celebrated for their roots while preparing for wider opportunity.
STEM Skills Through The GetBundi Partnership
A central part of the platform is its partnership with GetBundi, which Akuaba describes as a cybersecurity and data analysis company. Through the tie-up, girls who join Miss Afrikana International are set to receive STEM education, opening access to fields that can shape income, career choices and professional independence.
She frames the tech pathway as a practical route to independence, saying women are being given:
The opportunity to become entrepreneurs.Abena Akuaba
The intended outcome is that a participant can leave the platform with skills relevant to roles such as data analyst or cybersecurity professional, rather than visibility alone.
Spotlighting Africa's Potential
Akuaba makes her case for Africa by celebrating its people first, pointing to girls across the continent, those of African descent and those in developing countries who could gain skills strong enough to support international income. The argument is that talent can come from anywhere once education becomes accessible.
- A leadership platform anchored in African pride and ancestry
- STEM education delivered through the GetBundi partnership
- A focus on entrepreneurship and tech-driven career paths
- Beauty reframed around culture, identity and storytelling
A Platform Built On Pride And Skills
As Akuaba presents it, Miss Afrikana International now stands for pride, skill and story, celebrating African women as leaders, entrepreneurs and future data analysts and cybersecurity professionals. For audiences across the UAE and the wider region, where Abu Dhabi and Dubai continue to invest heavily in women's leadership and technology skills, the emphasis on STEM education and entrepreneurship lands as a familiar and timely theme.
She credited Luis Portelles for offering the interview platform to share the initiative more widely.
