From Poverty To Miss World: Makanyiso’s Inspiring Journey

Miss World Zimbabwe 2026 Brunette Makanaka Makanyiso has used her platform to highlight the human impact of poverty, drawing from her own childhood experiences to call for practical and lasting solutions.

Makanyiso, a pharmacist from Chitungwiza, has made poverty alleviation a key focus of her Miss World campaign, advocating for initiatives that help disadvantaged communities gain skills, education and opportunities to become self-reliant.

Her advocacy is deeply personal. Makanyiso has spoken about growing up in difficult circumstances, including experiencing malnutrition and periods when her family struggled to find their next meal.

“Poverty affects our choices, it affects our health, and sometimes even our confidence and dreams. This is not just an advocacy, it is my life story,” she said.

Her journey from childhood hardship to becoming a pharmacist and Miss World Zimbabwe has strengthened her belief that poverty should not determine a person’s future.

“I refuse to believe that poverty can have the final say, because I stand before you today as a pharmacist and Miss World Zimbabwe,” she said.

Makanyiso believes that addressing poverty requires more than providing temporary assistance. While food donations can help families facing immediate hunger, she argues that long-term solutions should focus on education, skills development and creating opportunities for people to support themselves.

This approach inspired her Beauty With a Purpose project, Tomorrow Starts Today.

“We didn’t want to donate people out of poverty. We wanted to give them something to rise above poverty,” she said.

Through the initiative, Makanyiso connected young people with skilled individuals who provided training in areas such as cooking, carpentry, baking and sewing. She also helped raise US$10,000 to support the education of disadvantaged children.

Her humanitarian work earned recognition at the Miss World competition, where Tomorrow Starts Today emerged as one of the leading projects.

Makanyiso has continued to use her position as a pharmacist, beauty queen and advocate to draw attention to the challenges faced by people living in poverty.

“Every great movement, every remarkable invention required just one person to stand up and act. And I’m choosing to be that person,” she said.

Her message is centred on action rather than sympathy, with a focus on giving disadvantaged people the skills, education and opportunities needed to build sustainable livelihoods.

Zimbabweans can also take pride in Makanyiso’s performance at the Miss World competition, where she won the Beauty With a Purpose segment as the top contestant from Africa and finished in the Top 2 overall.

Her achievement has placed both her advocacy work and Zimbabwe on the international stage.