She had been highly favoured to go all the way after garnering impressive online votes to take part in the Miss Africa continent 2016 but it was never to be as Miss Rwanda 2015 Doriane Kundwa lost out to Rebecca Asamoah from Ghana.

Miss Kundwa was among the 12 contestants who battled it out for the inaugural Miss Africa Continent crown in a colourful ceremony held at Johannesburg's Gold Reef City casino, South Africa, on Saturday night.

The Rwanda beauty queen was among the 12 girls picked from a list of 40 contestants from across the continent in the first pageant of its kind.

Kundwa did not emerge among the runner-ups despite high hopes that she would perform well having acquired the second highest number of votes in internet polls.

The former beauty queen and 10 others were beaten to the crown by the 24-year-old Ghanaian. Asamoah, a dental hygienist, impressed the judges with her ‘African’ presentation and fashion.

Zambia’s Michelo Malambo was the first runner-up while South Africa's Jemimah Kandimiri was the second runner-up.

Asamoah, a runner-up in Miss Ghana 2015, said that she would focus on empowering youth and environmental protection.

"There are a lot of things to be fixed in Africa -- water, education, environmental issues. My main concern is the empowerment of youths... so we can work hand in hand and put our continent in the best place it should be," Asamoah told AFP.

The pageant is the brain child of South African film producer Neo Mashishi, who says it aims to empower young African women.

"This is the first ever Miss Africa Continent," said Mashishi, adding that it had been in the pipeline for five years.

"This is about Africa, we are selling Africa to the world, and we are proud to be Africa. The way everything was done was African, we didn't emulate anything from Miss Universe, or Miss World," he said.

Asamoah, who wore braids, entered the stage in a traditional Ghanaian Ashanti gold-coloured beaded crown and then returned in an evening dress made from the country's trademark kente cloth.

She walked away with a grant to study business management at Monash University in Johannesburg.

In the weeks running up to the event, the 12 finalists embarked on a series of pre-pageant activities, including showing off their culinary skills in cooking traditional meals from their native countries.

The organisers hope to involve the continental body, the African Union, "so our winner can play a role in uplifting Africa"and spearhead campaigns to fight Africa's woes such as malaria, poverty and xenophobia.

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