The 29th Uganda North American Association (UNAA) Convention was recently concluded with the reintroduction of the Miss Uganda North America beauty pageant after a six year break. The event which was the highlight of this year’s UNAA Convention was held at the luxurious InterContinental Miami Hotel in Miami, Florida.
The event was brought back to life by firm partners like Equity Bank who vowed and delivered on the promise to give the pageant the value it deserves. Yvonne Kushemererwa, a 25-year-old behavioral interventionist based in Vancouver, Canada, beat 11 contenders in a hotly contested race and walked away with a scholarship towards college expenses and leadership programmes.

“Together with the runners-up, Miss Kushemererwa will also do a cultural, tourism and community building tour of Uganda next year,” said Equity Bank’s Managing Director Samuel Kirubi.

He added that the Bank’s partnership with the beauty pageant made sense since the annual UNAA Convention is North America’s largest Ugandan social and business gathering, attracting hundreds of Ugandans and Ugandan well-wishers from across the world to discuss social, economic and political issues that affect them.
He further explained that the event is part of a leadership programme. The 12 contestants from across the United States of America and Canada each year are inductees, and even though the main event was the beauty pageant, the leadership programme will last for six months.

The well-attended beauty pageant was held under the theme My beauty, My destiny.



