Online Reporter
Melissa Mpofu [email protected]
MISS World Zimbabwe 2026 Brunette Makanaka Makanyiso may have fallen short of the coveted global crown, but the 26-year-old pharmacist ensured Zimbabwe and Africa had a powerful story to tell on the world stage through her Beauty With a Purpose project, Tomorrow Starts Today.
Makanyiso, who hails from Chitungwiza, secured a place in the 2026 Miss World Top 12 after her initiative was recognised among the strongest humanitarian projects in the competition.
She narrowly missed a place in the Top 6 after her fellow Beauty With a Purpose contender, Miss World Malaysia Taanusiya Chetty, was announced as the overall winner of the segment. Chetty went on to finish second runner-up in the main competition.
Beauty With a Purpose (BWAP), Miss World’s flagship charitable initiative established in 1972, recognises contestants who use their platforms to tackle pressing social challenges and create tangible change in their communities.
For Makanyiso, the project was deeply personal. The pharmacist built Tomorrow Starts Today around youth empowerment, practical skills development and poverty alleviation – drawing heavily from her own childhood experiences of hardship.
The initiative is anchored on five pathways: learn, build, grow, trade and thrive, reflecting her belief that poverty should not dictate the limits of a person’s future.
Presenting her project during the Miss World Head-to-Head Challenge, Makanyiso laid bare the experiences that inspired her mission.
“This is not just an advocacy, it is my life story. Growing up, my family faced real seasons of hardship. There were moments when we didn’t know where food was going to come from. I lived with my grandmother with so many other grandchildren that she had and my very young mother.
“As a child, I suffered malnutrition. I remember a moment in my life where we survived off Red Cross packages.”
She said her journey from childhood poverty to becoming a pharmacist and national beauty queen reinforced her conviction that circumstances should not determine a person’s destiny.
“But I refused to believe that poverty can have the final say because I stand before you today as a pharmacist and Miss World Zimbabwe. To so many of us, poverty is just a number or statistic, but to 800 million people around the world, two thirds of which are in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is waking up each morning wondering where the next meal is going to come from.”
Makanyiso said a simple conversation with her sister about hunger later became the catalyst for her wider humanitarian work.
“Years later, something happened that made me change how I saw poverty. My sister made a beautiful meal and I told her I didn’t want to eat. And she asked me if I knew how many people were going to sleep hungry that very night.”
The conversation inspired the siblings to launch the #No oneGoesToBedHungryTonight social media campaign, but Makanyiso soon realised that providing food alone would not address the deeper causes of poverty.
“Another question popped up, what was going to happen tomorrow? This is how I formed my foundation, my Beauty With a Purpose project, ‘Tomorrow Starts Today’.
This was because we didn’t want to donate to people out of poverty. We wanted to get them something to rise above poverty.”
She began creating opportunities by connecting young people with individuals willing to share their skills. With limited resources, Makanyiso approached a church member who was a chef, who subsequently trained 20 girls in culinary skills.
“I realised that there were so many people with skills and could give them to other people for free and that’s how we started.”
The initiative expanded to include carpenters, tailors and other skilled people who trained underprivileged young people, creating a grassroots network focused on equipping communities rather than simply providing handouts.
“I realised that all that was needed, was for someone to approach these people to get them to uplift others.”
Makanyiso also revealed that the initiative had raised US$10 000 towards school fees for underprivileged children, driven by her belief that education remains one of the strongest pathways out of poverty.
“We also managed to raise $10 000 to assist with school fees for the less privileged as I wanted them to be educated so as to have a chance at life and opportunities. That’s how I imagined poverty to be eradicated.”
The project resonated strongly at Miss World, emerging as the outstanding Beauty With a Purpose project in Africa and second overall globally from 111 projects submitted by contestants.
While Makanyiso did not make the final six, her showing ensured Zimbabwe remained firmly in the conversation throughout the competition and gave international visibility to a social cause rooted in the lived realities of many young people.
Meanwhile, Joheirry Mola of the Dominican Republic was crowned Miss World 2026, bringing the pageant’s 75th anniversary celebrations to a close in Nha Trang, Vietnam. Elisabeth Reynés of Spain was named first runner-up, while Chetty of Malaysia finished second runner-up.
