If her diplomatic father had had his way, she would not have dared the runway. Then, the question was: Why catwalk in a beauty pageant when several assignments pill up in her Geography and Regional Planning class at the University of Lagos?
The protective parents feared that her involvement with the “unserious” Nigerian pageant thing /celebrity circle would cause her to drop out of the university; a shameful thing they cannot explain to their circle of friends.
But her persistence to follow her passion alongside her academic pursuit with the seriousness both required saw Omowunmi Akinnifesi achieving more than eyes can imagine within a short period. Of course, she came to the limelight after winning the Most Beautiful Girl in Nigeria pageant in 2005, and afterwards represented her country at the Miss World Pageant in China that same year, where she engaged in tree planting for the Chinese government. She later won Miss Tourism in Ukraine and has done a lot of things in different countries.
Her gorgeous yet smart pose on the cover of the recent edition of Y! Magazine is all you need to appreciate a marriage of beauty and brain evident in her raising profile, resourcefulness, academic feat and entrepreneurial skills.
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Yet, she is in her mid-20s. She beats the imagination of those who think one must be of age to be successful. Unlike other queens, after her reign, Omowunmi went back to complete her study at the University of Lagos where she obtained a degree in Geography and Regional Planning with a second class upper. It is most probably that she listened to her parents’ advice to do her pageant thing as fun, while paying more attention to her studies.
“Usually most beauty queens go abroad immediately after their reign, but I went back to Unilag, and as tough as it was, I dealt with it. I had to stoop to conquer, and glory be to God, I came out with a Second Class Upper, she says with satisfaction.”
The ex-beauty queen is once again proving she is a beauty with brains with her return after a 2-year break with a Master’s degree in Environmental Modelling Monitoring and Management from Kings College, London.
As an environment consultant, she is now more than equipped to take on environmental issues especially in Lagos State where she is already getting involved with government in tackling some environmental challenges.
Core to her interest in the environment is her concern and love for humanity. She is looking for a way to truly impact the society with her acquired skills and contacts. Also in line with her field of study, she runs a company that is into mapping, GRS services for navigation and location finding among others.
“I learnt about people and how to deal with them. There are different kinds of people with different purposes in life. So the way you relate with them matters. You have to learn good public skills to survive in Nigeria. Nigeria is a country of people; it is about skill, ability and capacity to deal with the people,” she insists.
The ability to manage people was also very evident in her ushering business. Her employees have grown from her tutelage to becoming self-reliant or able to give their academic pursuit the best of their efforts.
While there are few success stories to her credit, she is young and hopes to achieve true success, which according to her, is not measure in monetary terms but in one’s ability to make a difference and add value to people’s lives.
Having done well in pageant, modelling, ushering business, GRS service provider among other private businesses, she hopes to make success of the environment; her new found love starting with Lagos State where a growing population is mounting serious pressure on living, infrastructure and ultimately, on the environment.
