Miss Nepal, a national beauty pageant that started in 1994, where every year a selected group of young women from across the country enroll onto a month long training program to become the ultimate winner carrying the crown, title and duty towards their nation for years to come. This year, the 25th edition of the Miss Nepal pageant organized by The Hidden Treasure Pvt. Ltd., was like no other before, amidst the Covid-19 pandemic. Initially planned to be held on 20th March 2020, the expedition had to be rescheduled to start on 1st November 2020, with an all-new approach to protect the health along with the dreams and aspirations of the talented young women.
This year out of over 200 applicants, 21 contestants were shortlisted to proceed and perform in the competition. Following the auditions, the selected contestants went through 2 weeks of virtual training sessions, conducted like never before, to ensure their safety amidst the pandemic. This led into another 2 weeks of closed camp that started on 20th November, 2020 at Park Village Resort, Budhanilkantha; another attempt of safe operation. The entire expedition of Miss Nepal 2020 was unique in every aspect as it was crucial for the organizer to safeguard the contestants’ health while providing all the training and experience they would require for the Grand Finale held on 5th December, 2020.
Apart from the main title of Miss Nepal World subsequently followed by Miss Nepal Earth, Miss Nepal International and Miss Nepal Supranational, there are some distinctive subtitles that are given to contestants who excel in each field. One such subtitle of the pageant is “Miss Beauty with a Purpose”. This subtitle is all about spreading love and happiness by providing opportunities for the ones who haven’t received it, exploring a different perspective by putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and building together a better nation.
Over the years, IME and IME Pay have been consistently involved in serving Nepalese all over, whether it may be in developing financial inclusion by banking the unbanked, in women entrepreneurship or in fueling rural entrepreneurship. For this reason, IME Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd. undertook the subtitle sponsorship of the Beauty with a Purpose in Miss Nepal 2020 organized by The Hidden Treasure Pvt. Ltd. which was then renamed; “IME Pay Miss Beauty with a Purpose”.
In previous year Miss Nepal World, Ms. Ishani Shrestha (2013), Ms. Shrinkhala Khatiwada (2018) and Ms. Anushka Shrestha (2019) have been successful in winning the Beauty with a Purpose title in the ultimate Miss World pageant. This title carries tremendous value in the global platform and is a great honor for the person who holds it and for their nation. In like manner, the subtitle of Beauty with a Purpose in the national platform of Miss Nepal is also prominent and held in high regard.
For the IME Pay Beauty with a Purpose subtitle the contestants were given around 3 weeks to prepare a project proposal of any field related to the problems and affairs occurring in Nepal, to then present their ideas and strategies before a panel of the judges. They would propose how they would build the project by analyzing its specific needs, creating an action plan to solve the problems and budget it accordingly.
The presentation process for IME Pay Beauty With A Purpose was held at Park Village Resort during the closed camp on 29th November 2020. This Judging panel for the Beauty with a Purpose session this year consisted of Executive Chairman at RBS Consultancy (P) Ltd., Public speaker, Training and Management Consultant, Mr. Rajendra Shrestha, Miss Nepal World 2018 and winner of Beauty with a purpose title in Miss World 2018, Ms. Shrinkhala Khatiwada and Director at Equal Access International, Development Professional in the field of Int’l development, Dr. Nirmal Rijal.
All 21 contestants presented their projects in the session with their diverse views expressing various striking problems occurring in Nepal. Their concerns related to critical subjects like malnutrition, child marriage, stray animal welfare, acid attack, agriculture, poverty, pollution and quality of rural life, necessary health programs, education to lower caste communities people, women mortality issues during child birth and so forth. The interest and hard work that the contestants have invested in their projects inspired the judges.
Among the astounding projects put forward by the contestants, the one that stood out to the judges was the exceptional presentation on the deplorable exploitation of the Chure area and a commitment to work towards conservation of the region conveyed by Ms. Sandhya Sharma, currently pursuing study of forestry in Dehradun. Ms. Sharma had some impressive insights about the problems on illegal deforestation and land captivity by certain groups which is a major issue occurring in the Chure community. Her project highlighted why tree plantation needs must be addressed and how awareness should be raised for the conservation of the locality.
Ms. Sandhya Sharma was given the subtitle of IME Pay Miss Beauty with a Purpose at the Grand Finale of Miss Nepal 2020 on 5th December held at Park Village Resort. Ms. Asmita Shrestha, Brand Communication Officer of IME Digital Solutions Pvt. Ltd. sashed Ms. Sharma and handed over a cash prize of Rs. 25000 on behalf of IME Pay.
IME Pay congratulates Ms. Sandhya Sharma for winning her well-deserved title of IME Pay Miss Beauty with a Purpose along with other titles including Miss Popular Choice, Ruslan Woman of Substance as well as Miss Nepal International 2020.
IME Pay as the subtitle sponsor of Beauty with a Purpose will be working alongside the ultimate winner of the national pageant, Ms. Namrata Shrestha crowned as Miss Nepal World 2020. IME Pay will be supporting Ms. Shrestha in her Beauty with a Purpose project when she participates in the upcoming international beauty pageant, Miss World
