MISS RWANDA 2021 Grace Ingabire is in preparations to represent Rwanda at the forthcoming Miss World 2021 beauty contest slated for December 16, in Coliseo de Puerto Rico.

It is going to be the annual global beauty contest’s 70th edition since its inception in 1951.

Ingabire is now running against the clock doing the last logistical preparations to make sure everything is set prior to travelling to Puerto Rico this week ahead of the beauty contest.

The 26-year-old was crowned Miss Rwanda 2021 in March, beating first and second runners-up Amanda Akaliza and Witness Umutoni respectively to the crown.

Her focus now is on the Miss World 2021 title and all she wants is to "represent my country with all I can, and to the fullest. Rwanda will represent and shine this year”

After organisers approved her application for participation, the beauty queen said that she is now in final preparations for the contest.

"Most of the major preparation work has been completed. I am fully ready to represent my country and culture on the global stage,” she told The New Times.

"I am looking forward to connecting to people from different backgrounds and cultures, learning from the process and the opportunity to represent my culture on the global stage,” she said.

Since the beginning of her reign, Ingabire has so far been involved in a number of community-centered initiatives, including a project she recently launched to empower community health workers as a way of recognising their selfless efforts to ensure a healthy community across the country.

Through the project, she donated pigs to cooperatives of community health workers in Rwamagana District with a solid distribution plan that will ensure all 1,900 Community Health Workers grouped in 15 cooperatives in the area benefit from this project before extending her project to other districts countrywide.

In May, Ingabire also launched ‘Exploration Clubs’ in schools with an objective to inspire the young generation from schools to draw inspiration from their passions, follow them and make the best out of them to find solutions that can positively impact society.

Furthermore, to appreciate the sacrifice of those who led us to a peaceful and beautiful Rwanda of today, she donated elbow clutches, wheelchairs and various other items to the ex-combatants living with disabilities while she also took part in drive to promote the learning and use of sign language to ascertain the inclusivity of all individuals including people living with disabilities.

Ingabire becomes the fifth Rwandan beauty queen to participate in world’s most prestigious beauty contest after Jolly Mutesi, Elsa Iradukunda, Liliane Iradukunda and Meghan Nimwiza.

Miss Rwanda 2020 Naomie Nishimwe could have represented the country in the beauty contest last year had it not been cancelled due to the pandemic.

Ingabire’s predecessors have been struggling to shine at Miss World in previous editions, but the beauty queen confidently said that she is prepared enough to challenge this against all odds.

"I am prepared enough, the most important of all being a winning mentality. Rwanda can actually make it, and will make it,” she said.

The winner of this year’s Miss World edition will take the crown from Jamaican Toni-Ann Singh, the reigning Miss World crown holder.

Puerto Rico is home to two Miss World winners including Wilnelia Merced Forsyth, the winner of the beauty contest in 1975 and Stephanie Del Valle who won the crown in 2016.