Miss Twins Zimbabwe fails to attract sponsors

By Vasco Chaya

New pageant, Miss Twins Zimbabwe, is battling to attract sponsors as the date for the grand finale approaches.

Scheduled for December 15, the pageant was founded early this year by musician Sarah Dhliwayo, aka Sarah Dee. It attracted a lot of attention owing to its uniqueness.

However, despite the hype, the event is failing to attract major sponsors to make it a success. As it stands, the project is self-funded with the assistance of a Harare night club, East Point, which has offered them the venue to host the event.

Sarah Dee confirmed this to the media last week in Harare saying despite the lack of sponsorship, the pageant is going ahead.

“We wanted to hold the inaugural pageant in bigger and spacious venues such as a hotel auditorium but takutomboita zviripo.

“At first, we were inundated with pledges but now it seems all the people who promised us something are back-tracking,” the mother of four said.

Sarah Dee’s hope is to get around $100 000 to ensure  a successful pageant. There is need for a proper boot camp and prizes for the queens.

She could not state the exact budget they were working at or what was on offer for the big night.

“The truth is we are operating on a shoe-string budget. Given the resources, we need about $100 000 to run the event,” she said.

The event will feature 10 sets of twins from different parts of the country.

“The event seeks to promote the girl child in society. It is also a vehicle to fight gender-based violence in communities,” she said.

Miss Twins Zimbabwe is risking going the same route as Mr Ugly, another unique local pageant, which lost steam and glow due to the lack of sponsorship. 

Apama’s Mr Ugly contest was initially funded by Devine Assignments and as the economy took its toll on the nation, the pageant withered.

Since 2012, Mr Ugly experienced stunted growth owing to the dearth of sponsorship.

The inaugural Mr Ugly pageant had five contestants. The number of contestants rose to seven the following year and another seven contestants were registered in 2015.

The pageant failed to take off in 2014 due to financial constraints.

In 2017, the Mr Ugly pageant registered only five contestants owing to a tight budget.

“We wanted to grow the number of contestants over the years maybe to over 15 but our resources were not permitting,” Apama told the Daily News on Sunday. Daily News