BY PHUMZILE NDLOVU
MBABANE: Lifting the Eswatini flag high!
Two models from Top Models Eswatini, including the Founder and Director, Mbali Manana, will be awarded at the African Heritage Fashion Week and Awards in April this year.
The trio will be awarded in different categories. Manana will be honoured as a Fashion Influencer in 2024. . The models are Wendy Baxter, to be honoured as Best Newcomer 2023, and Nonjebo Lusenga, to be honoured as Best Model 2023.
The ceremony will be held in April in Buea, Cameroon; the exact date will still be confirmed.
Manana shared with this publication that she received the exciting news from the organisers, which read, “We are writing this letter to express our sincere gratitude for your exceptional work in the world of fashion. Your design, style, and hard work have inspired so many people.
On this note, we would love to honour you with an award of recognition in April during the award night of the AHFWA second edition in Buea, Cameroon, as a Fashion influencer 2024.”
When reached for comment, an excited and proud Manana said she received a message from the founder of the awards, Nuvi Gana, from Cameroon, who asked her to submit a profile of two models who had worked hard last year, hence the need to get recognition from African Heritage Fashion Week and Awards.
The AHF Week focuses especially on the experiences of Africans’ multiculturalism, which is tailored as an arena, Carrefour, and particularly a salad bowl for meeting and diagnosing some of these key issues and barriers in the African milieu of fashion, acting, music, and entertainment as a whole, as the main melting pot for fashion business in Africa.
According to Manana, AHF Week 2024 sets out the platform for all fashion actors know-how and regard for their creativity. It’s geared towards breaking through the walls that have kept designers, models, artists, bead makers, and fashion buyers from limiting their success in their respective domains.
This attempt to outline the challenges faced in the private sector is also aimed at calling on the state of Cameroon, on the other hand, to make it easier for young entrepreneurs to grant credit for the creation of enterprises and, on the other hand, to promote the clothing and haute couture industries. This concept is also tailored to encourage commendable initiatives for the training of young people and the creation of decent jobs.
Nonjebo Lusenga
She has been with Top Models Eswatini since 2016. She has an associate degree from Limkokwing University in Graphic Design.
Some of her work includes; Tshwane Fashion Week SA, 2016/2017, SADC Fashion Festival 2016/17, Eswatini Fashion Week 2016, and HRH Make Langangazs Fashion Showcase. Hospice Home. Sandton Fashion Invasion 2017, SA Lomankelenkele Fashion Show at Lubombo Music Festival, Yebo Gogo Yebo Mzala Fashion Festival Bholoja, Mpumala BMW Extravaganza, Mpumalanga, Eswatini Epic Gig Fashion Launch at The Epic Gig, Eswatini International Fashion Week at the Eswatini Biggest Braai event, Eswatini International Fashion Fair launch at the Eswatini International Trade Fair, Glam Fashion Show, Phakama Mpumalanga Festival in SA Mbombela.
Wendy Baxter
19 years old Baxter joined Top Models Eswatini last year.
Some of her work include; Regional Annual Sports Awards 2022
Global African Fashion Coalition GAFC SA Mbombela Gigs Guru
Phakama Mpumalanga Festival Nelspruit White River
Eswatini Epic Gig Fashion Launch
Eswatini International Fashion Week 2023
Eswatini Fashion Fair 2023
World Gold Cultures SAGlam. Fashion Show Eswatini
Fashion Finance Faith
