Botswana Teen Wins the 2005 Nokia Face of Africa




Okavango girl has won a million Pula modeling contract after scooping the 2005 Nokia Face of Africa competition. Nineteen-year-old Kaone Kario who hails from Maun was on Sunday evening announced as the winner of 2005 NOKIA Face of Africa competition. The 1.75m tall, Energetic and a go-getter, as she describes herself, made a surprise appearance in the top 10 and was also chosen among the top 5 finalists that included Doyin, Adeola, and Opeyami, all from Nigeria and Greatmore from Zimbabwe. The travel loving Kaone said she would like to model in New York one day. With the Nokia Face of Africa pageantry cluttched in her arms this could have opened doors for her.

For her exploits the lanky Maun belle has automatically earned a modeling contract of P1million, spread over three years, as the first prize. The other prizes include air travels by South African Airways, Cell phone accessories worth R10 000 from Nokia, while other prizes will come from Carlton Hair international.

Face of Africa is a continental model talent search that began in 1998. The First winner was Nigerian Oluchi Onweagba. The initiative ran for four years from-1998 - 2001and other winners included Benvinda Mudenge from Namibia (1999); Nombulelo Mazibuko from South Africa (2000) and Ramatoulaye Diallo from Senegal (2001).

This year, Kaone beat contestants from 21 countries. The contestants came from; Angola, Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Malawi, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.