Miss Ghana UK (2005)
INTELLIGENT, articulate and graceful, Naana Agyei-Ampadu, the reigning Miss Ghana UK is the anti-beauty queen. “I know I can’t eradicate AIDS or put an end to child poverty,” she concedes, alluding to the customary response given by beauty pageant contestants the world over. “But I can utilize the exposure that I’m getting to highlight certain things that may otherwise be ignored.”
Agyei-Ampadu is anything but the Ghanaian equivalent of a dumb blonde. The ebullient 22-year-old law graduate and drama student is determined to use her newfound status to make a change. “At first I was quite scared by the whole prospect of going against lots of beautiful women. But getting involved in it and seeing what they do and where they’re coming from made me realise that it’s a lot more than beauty.”
As the new face of Manjaro Agyei-Ampadu is fronting the restaurant-bar’s publicity campaign and is hoping to replicate her Miss Ghana success for the fashionable venue. “I wouldn’t put my name to anything I didn’t believe in,” she affirms, sounding every bit as confident as she is sincere. “As Africans we need to step up our game and understand that we also deserve quality. We need to be able to say that we want to spend our money in a nice place,” she says, kind of unpretentious passion that won her the MGUK crown. “A lot of other ethnicities have broken through the niche market. They’ve created a surrounding where anybody can go and feel that they have to be in the culture. We need to do that too.”
Before Agyei-Ampadu entered the Miss Ghana UK contest she confesses that she had little to do with the Ghanaian community but she fully intends to make up for lost time. “I’d like to use the title to do something positive because there’s only so far my looks can take me. Living over here we can’t forget where we came from and what’s needed back home.”
And her plans for the future? “Personal world domination!” she jokes. But if her determination and vision is anything to go by that statement may prove to be no laughing matter.
Naana's Ghana
Favourite restaurant: Papaye
For the rice and chicken and Frankies for the ice cream.
Favourite club: Boomerang
I haven’t actually been there myself but I’ve heard it’s good.
Favourite city: Elmina,
The castles make you thank God for your blessings.
Favourite hotel: La
The architecture is beautiful and the pool is amazing.