Mpule Keneilwe Kwelagobe (born 14 November 1979) is a Motswana investor, businesswoman, model, and beauty queen who was crowned

Miss Universe 1999 Miss Universe 1999, the 48th Miss Universe pageant, was held on 26 May 1999 at the Chaguaramas Convention Centre in Chaguaramas, Trinidad, Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago. Mpule Kwelagobe of Botswana was crowned by Wendy Fitzwilliam of Trinidad ...

. She was the first black African woman to win one of the

Big Four international beauty pageants The Big Four or the Big League Pageants refers to the four major international beauty pageants for women – Miss World, Miss Universe, Miss International and Miss Earth. The group was first described by the '' China Daily'' newspaper in 2004 ...

, the first woman from Botswana to win, and the first from a nation making their debut in nearly four decades. Kwelagobe had previously been crowned Miss Botswana 1997 and Miss Universe Botswana 1999, and competed in

Miss World 1997 Miss World 1997, the 47th edition of the Miss World pageant, was held on 22 November 1997 at the Plantation Club Seychelles in Baie Lazare, Seychelles. 86 delegates competed for the coveted crown. At the end of the event, India's Diana Hayden ca ...

. Kwelagobe has been recognized as a human health rights activist, especially for her fight against

HIV/AIDS Human immunodeficiency virus infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (HIV/AIDS) is a spectrum of conditions caused by infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), a retrovirus. Following initial infection an individual ...

and advocacy for youth and women to have greater access to sexual reproductive education and services. She is the co-founder of QuesS Capital LLC, a

private equity firm A private equity firm is an investment management company that provides financial backing and makes investments in the private equity of startup or operating companies through a variety of loosely affiliated investment strategies including lev ...

with investments in financial services, renewable energy and agriculture in Africa and South Asia.

Early life and education

Kwelagobe was born on 14 November 1979 in

Gaborone Gaborone ( , , ) is the capital and largest city of Botswana with a population of 246,325 based on the 2022 census, about 10% of the total population of Botswana. Its agglomeration is home to 421,907 inhabitants at the 2011 census. Gaboron ...

. She comes from the

Tswana Tswana may refer to: * Tswana people, the Bantu speaking people in Botswana, South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe, Zambia, and other Southern Africa regions * Tswana language, the language spoken by the (Ba)Tswana people * Bophuthatswana, the former ba ...

ethnic group, and her native language is

. Kwelagobe attended Lobatse Senior Secondary School in

Lobatse Lobatse is a town in south-eastern Botswana, 70 kilometres south of the capital Gaborone, situated in a valley running north towards Gaborone and close to the border with South Africa. Lobatse has a population of 29,772 as of 2022. The town is an ...

, and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, graduating with a degree in international political economy. She began her education at Columbia in 2002, two years after finishing her reign as Miss Universe.

Career

Modeling and pageantry

Kwelagobe began her career in modeling and pageantry as a teenager. In 1997, she entered Miss Botswana 1997 while still a high school student. She ultimately won the title, becoming the youngest woman to ever win Miss Botswana at only 17. As Miss Botswana, Kwelagobe represented Botswana at

Mahé, Seychelles Mahé is the largest island of Seychelles, with an area of , lying in the northeast of the Seychellean nation in the Somali Sea part of the Indian Ocean. The population of Mahé was 77,000, as of the 2010 census. It contains the capital city ...

, where she was unplaced. Kwelagobe returned to pageantry two years later, being crowned Miss Universe Botswana 1999, becoming the inaugural holder of the title. She subsequently became the first woman to represent Botswana in the

Miss Universe Miss Universe is an annual international beauty pageant that is run by a United States and Thailand based Miss Universe Organization.Natalie Tadena (July 2, 2015"Donald Trump's Miss USA Pageant Lands on Reelz Cable Channel". ''The Wall Stre ...

competition, competing in

Chaguaramas, Trinidad and Tobago Chaguaramas (pronounced, in the local English dialect, "shag-gah-rah-muss") lies in the Northwest Peninsula of Trinidad west of Port of Spain; the name is often applied to the entire peninsula, but is sometimes used to refer to its most developed ...

. Kwelagobe advanced to the top ten, then the top five, and was ultimately declared the winner of the competition, besting first runner-up

Miriam Quiambao Miriam Redito Quiambao-Roberto (, born May 20, 1975) is a Filipino physical therapist, inspirational speaker, author, entrepreneur, actress, television host, real estate broker, endorser, model, and beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned ...

of the Philippines and second runner-up Diana Nogueira of Spain. With her win, Kwelagobe became the fourth black woman to win Miss Universe, the first black African to win any of the

, and the first woman from Botswana to win a major international title.

Post-pageantry

After finishing her reign as Miss Universe, Kwelagobe enrolled in

and graduated with a degree in international political economy. In 2000, Kwelagobe was made a

goodwill ambassador Goodwill ambassador is a post-nominal honorific title, a professional occupation and/or authoritative designation that is assigned to a person who advocates for a specific cause or global issue on the basis of their notability such as a publ ...

by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

, focusing on youth and

. She addressed the

World Summit on Sustainable Development The World Summit on Sustainable Development 2002, took place in South Africa, from 26 August to 4 September 2002. It was convened to discuss ustainable developmentorganizations, 10 years after the first Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. (It was the ...

, the Least Developed Countries conference, the World Youth Summit, and the

United States House Committee on Financial Services The United States House Committee on Financial Services, also referred to as the House Banking Committee and previously known as the Committee on Banking and Currency, is the United States congressional committee, committee of the United States H ...

regarding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Kwelagobe testified on the socioeconomic impact of

HIV/AIDS in Africa HIV/AIDS originated in Africa in the early 20th century and is a major public health concern and cause of death in many African countries. AIDS rates vary significantly between countries, though the majority of cases are concentrated in Souther ...

and proposed a bill to set up a

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and grants to the governments of low- and middle-income countries for the purpose of pursuing capital projects. The World Bank is the collective name for the Inte ...

AIDS prevention trust fund. In November 2000, Kwelagobe launched the ''MPULE Foundation'' and continued to tour her country (Botswana) to promote behavioral change among the youth. The tour aimed to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS, while also advocating access to sexual and reproductive rights for women and youths. In 2001, Kwelagobe received the Jonathan Mann Health Human Rights Award by the International Association of Physicians in AIDS Care (IAPAC). In 2003, she was selected as a Global Leader for Tomorrow (GLT) by the

World Economic Forum The World Economic Forum (WEF) is an international non-governmental and lobbying organisation based in Cologny, canton of Geneva, Switzerland. It was founded on 24 January 1971 by German engineer and economist Klaus Schwab. The foundation, ...

, and in 2006, she was selected by the same organisation as a

Young Global Leader Forum of Young Global Leaders, or Young Global Leaders (YGL), was created by Klaus Schwab, founder of the World Economic Forum. The YGL, a non-profit organization managed from Geneva, Switzerland, is under the supervision of the Swiss government ...

(YGL). In 2011, Ms. Kwelagobe founded the MPULE Institute for Endogenous Development, a New York City-based advocacy. Institute strives to champion public policy and is a think tank for green initiatives, sustainable development in agriculture, gender equity, and women's and youth empowerment. In 2015, Kwelagobe signed an open letter which the ONE Campaign had been collecting signatures for; the letter was addressed to

Angela Merkel Angela Dorothea Merkel (; ; born 17 July 1954) is a German former politician and scientist who served as Chancellor of Germany from 2005 to 2021. A member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), she previously served as Leader of the Opp ...

and Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, urging them to focus on women as they serve as the head of the G7 in Germany and the AU in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

respectively. Kwelagobe sits on the board of the

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences The African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is a tertiary education and research institute in Muizenberg, South Africa, established in September 2003, and an associated network of linked institutes in Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzan ...

, a pan-African network of Centers of Excellence in mathematical sciences founded by 2008

TED Prize TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "ideas worth spreading". TED was founded by Richard Sau ...

winner and

quantum physicist Quantum mechanics is a fundamental theory in physics that provides a description of the physical properties of nature at the scale of atoms and subatomic particles. It is the foundation of all quantum physics including quantum chemistry, qua ...

, Professor

Neil Turok Neil Geoffrey Turok (born 16 November 1958) is a South African physicist. He holds the Higgs Chair of Theoretical Physics at the University of Edinburgh since 2020, and has been director emeritus of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physi ...

References

External links

Mpule Kwelagobe
UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador
Young Global Leaders
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kwelagobe, Mpule 1979 births Botswana beauty pageant winners Botswana expatriates in the United States Botswana female models Columbia University alumni HIV/AIDS activists Living people Miss Universe 1999 contestants Miss Universe winners Miss World 1997 delegates People from Gaborone