beauty contests and fashion shows for africans in bengaluru have been growing steadily in popularitythe biggest amalgamation of african nationals in city the miss and mr africa bangalore pageant is a heavilycontested event where men and women vie for the coveted title with its first edition in 2017 the contest was initially only miss africa bangalore and saw an overwhelming response with over 250 participants mainly from nigeria congoghanacameroon angola mali sudan and the ivory coastrossyman mayunda a congo national and a bengalurubased marketing student has been organising the pageant with his team who call themselves one team africa a ramp model himself mayunda says the pageant is an effort to bring africans in bengaluru together we have students and professionals who have settled here participating in this pageant and showcasing their talent with both their traditional african costumes and western attire he addscynthia nguefack a cameroonian and a citybased engineering student was crowned the miss africa bangalore 2017 when the 2018 edition was planned the african men of bengaluru voiced strong desire to add a male pageant to the event the organisers then added the mr africa bangalore for the year 2018following numerous rounds of auditions the pageant for both african men and women of bengaluru began on the evening of july 8 2018 the second edition had a swift decline in participation with only 67 walking the ramp through various rounds including the traditional african attire the swimsuit round the western wear and the question answer sessionfinally congo national meschac isoposo an engineering college student here was crowned the first mr africa bangalore malian barama kone became miss africa bangalore 2018 the final round was the toughest it had six men competing and i managed to triumph says isoposo who is now preparing for the 2019 edition which is likely to be held in decemberblack fashion week bengaluruon march 8 the city will be canvas for the oneofitskind black fashion week bengaluru 2019 were african residents of the city representing over 40 african countries will walk the ramp showcasing native and western fashion the first round of auditions for the coveted event took place on thursday at kammanahalli which saw enthusiastic participants lining up for the catwalk