The Mirinda Miss Teen grand finale took place on August 31 at Kati Kati Restaurant in Kampala following an intensive, but exciting search which attracted at least 400 girls across the county.
Mrs Berna Kizza, the Mirinda brand manager, hands over a Shs2 million dummy cheque to Mirinda Miss Teen 2013 Patience Ahabwe at Kampala Serena Hotel on Tuesday.
The search for that well-rounded girl, who is confident, articulate, talented, well-groomed and attractive while in touch with the lighter side of life, was taken to Mbale, Jinja, Bushenyi, Mukono and Kampala schools.
Handing over the school fees prize-money to the three girls at the Kampala Serena Hotel, Ms Berna Kizza, the Mirinda brand manager, said hosting the girls to a luncheon and rewarding them was a way of Mirinda fulfilling the pledge it made at the launch of Mirinda Miss Teen in May.
“The Mirinda Miss Teen was an exciting competition and lots of great talent in arts, music, fashion and design was exhibited. Following that, three girls came on top and were rewarded at the grand finale. Today’s is the completion of the pledge we made to them before the competition started,” Ms Kizza said.
The luncheon was attended by, among others, parents, guardians and friends of the three girls.
Patience Ahabwe, a senior four student from St. Joseph’s Nsambya, is the reigning Mirinda Miss Teen.
She received school fees worth Shs2 million, first runner-up Monica Namulindwa from Seeta High School Shs1.5 million and second runner-up Linda Guhirwa of Mt. St. Mary’s Namagunga Shs1 million.
The Mirinda Miss Teen experience, Ms Kizza said, embodies the true character of brand Mirinda and that is why Crown Beverages Limited came out to support it.
“The Miss Teen contest is the appropriate platform to spot the girl with the attributes that Mirinda embodies,” she explained.
“The top three girls will also soon appear on some of the Mirinda communication material like billboards and TV adverts and be invited at Mirinda-sponsored events.”
Ms Kizza said Mirinda is committed to making the celebration of the Uganda girl inform of sponsoring the Mirinda Miss Teen bigger and better next year.
“This year, Mirinda Miss Teen was taken to the West, East and Central. Next year, the competition will also cover the North,” she said.
“We are optimistic the competition will continue to grow and not only become one of the biggest events on the schools calendar but also on the social calendar,” she added.
Mr Innocent Tibayeita, the head of sales and marketing Crown Beverages Limited, the bottlers of Mirinda, said CBL sunk Shs350 million into the project, adding that it was a worthwhile investment.
