 Hello there and many thanks for tuning in to Y254 Lifestyle Wednesday tonight to be looking at the modeling industry. I'll be speaking to Ryan aka Nezhe. He's the president of the Zuri Africa Global Trust. We want to see how much is into this industry and is it lucrative by the way and so much so we want to see the event that will be upcoming. We are looking forward to keep it Y254. Send in your comments or questions to all our social media platforms at Y254 channel. My name is Dereva Hillary. Welcome to the program and we begin right away. Karibu Sana. Welcome to Kenya and welcome to Y254 Studios. Karibu, welcome. Now I would love to understand or to know more about the global trust just before we get into the event that will be upcoming. Tell us more about the global trust. The global trust was founded in South Africa that's 2014 with an idea of differentiating what African culture means and how best we can penetrate the global market as Africans. So we founded in South Africa 2014 heritage house. And how has the business been? How has the reception been for those years? No, the impact is strong. The brand is bigger than the individuals. And if you always say that we run as a collective, South Africa with a collective mindset, with one mindset then I mean nothing can beat it. And so far how many countries have joined you? We have over 22 countries. 22 I think it's actually over 26 countries now. So for the first year we said let's focus on 22 plus then next year we penetrate even up to 34 plus. So the response is overwhelming. That's quite awesome now. Maybe you could tell us what was the motivation and the inspiration to begin as such? I think we discovered that there was a gap in terms of how us as Africans are recognized outside. Remember Africa is a brand. But how then do we sell Africa as a brand? And we felt as Africans our brand is not really stepping out in terms of the content that goes out through media platform, through individuals that then travel and then they discover new land and then they adopt new cultures which has got nothing to do with being an African. So the motivation was that let's come up together as a collective so that we're able to influence the global space. How we then influence the global space is what Zuri Africa Queen defines. Zuri Africa Queen is a project that runs under Zuri Africa Global Trust. I want to believe you work with young people like I have seen and what is into place or how do you encourage or the strategies you have in mentoring young people and nurturing their talents? The strategy is a global trust. Number one we identify our partners from all different walks of life. First is Africa. We also got global partners from the United States, Canada, UK, etc. But our number one protocol we discover who is our partner in the African market. We can take our brand to launch it in their country, to run it in their country as a platform that then defines who is supposed to take part. So we run auditions at the national level where we work with national directors or the franchise or whatever brand. So they run auditions, they test their selection platform through auditioning, through scouting, through... We also open what you call it participation platforms where we say if you think you got the gift, if you think you're a cultural leader, it was what we promote after or it's cultural leadership. So if you think you got the skills of a leader and you think this is a platform that you can really stand out and become a sound voice, then you come up. That begs the question, what does it take to become a model? What does it take to become a model? The modeling parties will define with the national directors because when I sit here I'm looking at a program. I'm not really keen about the models themselves. The platform that is really keen about the models is then the national directors who run the modeling agencies. Because through the modeling agencies you are taking the cultural leadership skill to fuse it with beauty and brains. Where do you get the beauty? The beauty then you get it through working with the national directors who run modeling agencies. But for the women in the modeling sector when we work with them we are just molding them to become leaders. We are molding them to become influencers. We are molding them to believe and stand up for what they believe is right. What is right? Being an African is right. There is nothing wrong with being an African. There is everything right being an African. But there is everything wrong when an African decides to be something else, which then doesn't have a definition. I'll give an example. When you look at the way Zurefika Queen is designed, it's designed in such a way that the women that participate are promoted to being their organic form. We say organic form, we are talking about the organic true identity of an African woman. What is it? It's from head to toe. The language you speak without anybody asking you are you an African or not. If you look at an example, you take a queen who is promoting a certain initiative, you take the mouse out of the country. But from head to toe, nothing defines only the sash that is defining what, what, what means, what, what African. It's not enough. Let everything speak from head to toe that I am African and I'm proud. But then if you are compromised, what do I mean by being compromised? You're an African but you've got Brazilian hair. You've got long nails from Spain. You've got Italian dress and everything. And you stand, people tend to doubt. But when a true queen comes in its organic form, it then also lures stories to say, okay, wow, you know, I really need to go to Africa and check out what's happening down there. You made a statement that I kind of feel, okay, I don't want to go there because it may bring some issues with our ladies because they love to look good in these days. But then you just mentioned about partnership and you've spoken about European countries. But for a long time Africa has been accused of relying more on the West. Now when you partner with them, what do you look for from them? From the partners, we have a guide who got a franchise guide that defines how that program is supposed to operate. So we are looking at capabilities who is capable of delivering what needs to be delivered with this brand called Zuri Africa Queen. So that's what we are looking at to say, okay fine, if you're going to take up this franchise, you need to be informed. Okay, for the past five years or so, what has been the greatest achievement that you have made as a Zuri? Okay, we have been very influential because number one, we invested six years in building a brand and how we invested it from South Africa. We have been running and partnering with other programs just to help them cushion whatever they are doing. We have operated also in Zambia. We have operated Malawi, Ubinin, Zimbabwe just to build the brand in terms of launching of agencies, we launched agencies in different countries to then use that as a hub to discover the organic culture and mentor women into ethno-cultural leaders. So in terms of achievement, yes we have achieved in a lot of countries and today we are in Kenya because of that the brand has become too strong and today we are in Kenya and Kenya is Austin and I believe this is the first ever to happen in Kenya to have international models over 40-something participants who are coming into the countries because Zuri recognized the queen's role, it recognized the princess' role. So we got the queens and the princesses that are coming into the country for the very first time as an international program. So to us that's a major success. I'm interested to know how the reception is here in Kenya and how people have contributed but as you respond to that as well we have seen such initiatives come maybe to dry fans or to have an agenda or having something that will be pronounced out here but then as you work in Kenya and the event that is upcoming are you looking into maybe raising funds to a certain project or you just want to showcase Africa? For now we are not looking at raising funds we thank God for our host partner which is Afrik Models they have partnered with us to say okay let's give Kenya a chance so such programs when they come in a country the country has got a lot more to benefit number one the minister of tourism they benefit because these are tourists coming into the country number two you find they are benefiting also in forex because these tourists are coming to leave their manizia they have forex in the country and at the same time we are a program that says we do not work against the government we work with the government we have a wing that is in government this is what we are running with so we partner, our biggest stakeholder should be the government and is the government the minister of tourism, the minister of education was why are we in the country also to educate people about the Kenyan culture so when the countries come they want to see what Kenya is all about I've been in the country for four days now and what I see is amazing I've got an amazing story to go out there and tell because I'm an African ambassador so Kenya has got a lot to benefit because when I come here and I step in I'm an ambassador for Africa then when I go I'm then influencing people to say you know what Kenya is an amazing country Kenya is like this because I focus on the positives of a country and from the time that I landed here I'm just seeing amazing stories so that is what Zuri wants to dub then as a collective we are saying now as different as we are we are not different what do I mean we are different because of borders we'll put the borders in place it's not us the Africans it's in the foreign element we're just saying okay we can still break those borders but not the physical but the way we trade like right now we are together we are talking we have broken the borders we are saying now we can communicate as Africans we can come out solutions and say how best then can we do that how we do that when you combine these countries that are coming to showcase organic culture the true roots of who we are will succeed because it's a collective of voices Africans are saying you know what we love who we are we package ourselves we take that to the global community and the next thing the global community will be knocking at Zuri Africa doors to say you know what you want to invest in Africa how do you go about it and because we got a relationship with the government and the ministries we have a discussion you know what there are people who want to invest in Kenya how can you assist them because we are the voice so there is so much that Kenya is going to benefit from this program one of the things I have noticed and in a moment to be seeing some of the models you are working with the designers these kind of people who make these dresses and the attires that you have the African what really is into this because we have seen other models they have this kind of designs the kind of clothes they wear the kind of attires they showcase this one is purely African it's purely African and the creative the creative sector we strongly work with them you mentioned the designers it's good that you noticed that designers are our friends they are our partners it's a collective of different elements because when you want to put in the components of culture you got different players the designers the African the African what you call it artists that are going to perform there the musicians they play vital role also in the program the musicians the designers so we have a collection of designers that we said you know come through not just from Kenya because remember you got queens that have been prepared for the past one year in their countries and they have been working very closely with their designers all of them they are into so much passionate about who we are as Africans and the correction is between us as Africans they say okay fine how do we package ourselves for a global market for these designers for every country that you are working with right now you said about 22 now for every country like for example Kenya you are in Kenya you are working with Kenyan designers or you have come with your own the Kenyan queens the Kenyan princes they are working with their own awesome that's what we promote there is no need to say okay we need to take another designer from somewhere to dress a Kenyan queen it's not going to tell a true story if you are coming from Tanzania your Tanzania designer are going to dress you because they understand the dynamics of the dress codes and everything so for Kenya has been dressed with Kenyan designers the Nigerians have been dressed with the Nigerian designers that's how we work and these designers they have to work with what you have in mind or what they will have alright we have categories we just give categories number one we are saying on Zuri Africa global platform you are coming to tell a story how to tell a story we got six categories number one is the traditional we are saying okay fine tell us the story where the dress started from and remember culture is not defined by dress dress is just a symbol of where you come from culture has a lot of components those are what we are dressing that's what we are showcasing we are not just showcasing dress you are not just going to see women coming and working and go that's how different we are they are coming in and they are going to tell us why they are wearing the traditional dress they are coming to tell us why they are wearing the modern dress which is now they are coming to tell the story why they are wearing the heritage dress which is the national symbol dress or some they call it a national costume they are also coming to tell us a story why they are wearing the creative dress because by working with the designers also we are challenging them to be creative then at the same time the final thing is we are also challenging them to think 20 years ahead for Kenya we can say okay as a designer can you show us the futuristic dress 20 years from now how you are going to dress but it is defined also in the way they are going to work with the designers alright at this juncture I would want us to see the model that we have in studio and see how they are dressed and get to understand about the traditions like you have mentioned why such an attire and what message does it send our modelists are coming right now please come in exactly so if you could actually explain to us maybe I will begin from that end so we have a gentleman there what kind of message is being sent with this kind of an attire okay at this juncture I think I am going to leave the platform because I am also learning and enjoying to learn the Kenyan culture so I will be biased if I tell you okay this is from this one I learned from this one can you hear from them then yeah we can actually hear from them alright tell us about your attire my name is Akevi Nancharo and what I am wearing it comes from our culture I am half kikuyu and half kamba and from our own models they usually use this they are called this kalabash in so many things some of them store milk some of them do different things with it they put porridge for the kids and everything alright how about the next okay I am brand Nwendo Sankaw what I am wearing comes from my culture I am half kamba I am half masai the red part comes from the masai part and the green part the kamba I expected the yellow that's okay did not yellow alright my name is Quinville Wanyama I am wearing Ankara or we call it Kitenga this is mainly from Nigeria but we have also adopted as other African countries right okay finally my name is Makulet I am wearing I have used a kikuyu fabric it was used at the coast coastal part of Kenya so I have used the kikuyu to bring out the African alright so as you can see Kenya is beautiful no it's amazing and you see there men as well we have been talking about ladies here and you could ask me why the men are there tell me about it it's just a symbol to say when the queen is going to be found there is going to be a king who is waiting to Asha the queen to the throne so that's a concept that we are using and you find there is a prince waiting to Asha the princess to her throne because the prince plays the people to her all alright I will request our modders not to tire we will be finishing in a bit but for now tell me about the upcoming event well the upcoming event is amazing I have been three days in the country just to see if everything is in order everything is ready we want to see the venue the venue is a western hotel western hotel ya here in Nairobi who is invited everybody is invited and just a couple days we have been inviting all the ambassadors because all the embassies they are also stakeholders they need to receive their queens how about the public the public is number one pronto so they are all invited we are coming with tickets or is it free no it's not free it's not free because the reason why it's not free is to control the crowd if you say it's free then it's going to be disaster so it's not free there is the VVIP there is VIP entry there is the general entry and tickets are already being sold so how many people will be participating many in terms of the countries ok roughly we will sum up because I will tell you even by today we are still having entry for other countries that we thought they are not going to be on board like Egypt but we never thought we were going to have Egypt on board so because of the what you call it the noise that is causing out there and the concept itself so we are still having a lot of countries that are coming in but so far in terms of entry we have more than 26 countries 24 26 countries but remember they are queens they are first princess second princess so you'd be expecting more than 44 participants going up alright now I want to pose a question to you I understand you will be participating what do you have in mind what you will be looking forward to I'll be participating as the princess whatever I'm looking forward to is to win yes and where do you expect your king to come from or whoever comes I will choose the all-african I'll appreciate a prince from any part of the Africa what kind of attire will you be having then the one you have now I'll be representing Kenya so I'll just pick on one trip from Kenya may be lore and showcase alright alright now tell us about the ticketing and where we will find them as we wind up alright before you get to there there are no prince there are no prince for contesting there's only one prince who's just on the stage to Asha waiting for the princess no I'm not I'll be enjoying the event I'll be enjoying the event in terms of the tickets the tickets the adverse that are circulating with numbers that they need to call unfortunately I don't know the number by head but there is a number on social media maybe you can follow yeah on social media Facebook you can follow Zuri Africa Queen you can follow Zuri Africa Kenya so Zuri Africa Queen follow Zuri Africa Kenya follow any Zuri Africa platform Zuri Africa Kenya Nigeria because the circulation is just going everywhere so all our contacts and all our details are there yeah then Instagram Zuri Africa Queen awesome maybe website that's www.zuriafricaqueen.org so the website is the best platform if you get mixed up with mixed up with the high energy which is on social media right now alright I want to get the final words from our modest Malizia from your end because you're into this what can you tell the young people out there and generally the public what do you have a message for them and if you could hold your mic call it your mouth please about Zuri the modeling industry the modeling industry many models pass through a lot of struggles I'll advise them to keep pushing and never give up keep hope alive thank you alright next person I advise young models to follow their dreams and be sure to their hearts alright thank you ok I will advise people the young people if we go the passion in modeling just show it out you may never know where destiny lies thank you ok for me what a lot is that many models go through so much challenge especially in this industry but if you get the right channel if you get the right for me afric model as an afric model it has helped me through a lot since I started modeling way back but for now you'll see that so many doors are opening being his privilege for me and I thank afric models I'd like to tell all the models out there follow your dreams be passionate in what you do before I let you go how do I identify the places to go because we have people with talent out there they have no information where do I go how did you get your breakthrough first of all you always find that outside there are scouts scouting for models but if you happen to join the wrong agency I want to mention names but if you happen to join the wrong agency you'll end up getting disappointed but first of all before joining any agency do your research yes thank you so much finally with you is it profitable to be in this industry how are the models benefiting being here and doing this and your final ones what models need it's a platform you get the right platform you get exposure we have a brand that is giving these models the people in the industry exposure like for instance they got about three amazing tours for next year all the queens that are participating and the princesses participating we got Germany we got Asia in fact you got USA we had the three countries we already got schedules so we got a global tour but Zuri Africa doesn't end on the event it actually starts when the event starts so what models need is to identify the right platform because talent which is not exposed it's nothing talent is exposed that's how you tap into opportunity somebody is going to identify you so what we create is a platform and when you get the right opportunities they tap into those opportunities so they need to position themselves that's all I can say many things for coming many things for the models 14th of December which will be actually few days from now at Weston hotel they will be showcasing Africa and indeed Kenya will be fully represented they have been my guest here and my guest speaker was Ryan Monegami he's from Zimbabwe so other way from Zimbabwe to Kenya many thanks for keeping us company this has been Y254 Lifestyle Wednesday with me Dereva Hillary have yourself a very good night