Loice Okuru: Kenyan woman among 21 finalists in U.K beauty pageant

Loice Tabitha Okuru, a 24-year-old Kenyan woman living in the United Kingdom, is among 21 finalists in this year’s Miss Africa Great Britain beauty pageant.

In fulfilling the beauty pageant's mission of charity and giving back to the community as they await the pronouncement of the winner in November, Loice has been raising funds to help those who have been affected by the inflation in London.

The pageant is marked through 5 different ways namely; A fundraiser in which the one who raises the most funds shall be declared as Miss Charity and get an automatic top 10 slot. Secondly, public voting which is currently ongoing, for the person with the most votes will be known as Miss Popularity and gets to the top 5 automatically or has 2 extra points.

Then there is marking based on proactivity that is; ticket sales and event promotion; and lastly there is marking by the jury which happens on the Grand Finale that takes place in London on November 4, 2022.

“The Miss Africa GB pageant was founded in 2011 by Dele Onabowu, with the sole purpose of giving young African girls born or living in the United Kingdom a platform to showcase not only their beauty but most importantly their culture, talent, and creativity,” read a press release.

“The winner becomes a goodwill ambassador for Miss Africa Great Britain, charged with carrying out their platform's mission of helping mankind and making the world a better place. Over the last ten years, their Queens have devoted their time to charity work in the UK and Africa.”

Loice, the firstborn in a family of three siblings, was born in Kyuso, Kitui County, but raised in Nairobi.

She went to the U.K to pursue an LLB in Law with International Relations at the University of Sussex and has been residing there ever since. 

She previously represented Kenya in the 2014 INESPO (International Environment & Sustainability Project Olympiad), the largest sustainability Olympiad in Europe, where she got an honorable mention and an encouragement award.

Loice later participated in INESPO 2015 and 2016 where she got to win the third prize (Bronze medal) in both Olympiads.

"These two bronze awards were and are still very dear to her because in 2015 and 2016 out of 45 countries and over 200 projects she was the only Kenyan and East African to finish in the top 3, flying the Kenyan flag while she received both her awards,” added the press release.

During her high-school years, Loice actively participated in the East African Model United Nations and the African Leadership Model African Union.

In university, she participated at the Warwick Economic summit (2021) hosted by Warwick University and took part in the Sussex Model United Nations as the ambassador to Bangladesh.