Model Keitumile Kawilima bags award in Namibia
The country’s model Keitumile Kawilima on Saturday won the Katutura Fashion Week (KFW) International Model of the Year at an event which took place in Namibia.
Keitumile outclassed five other nominees in the International Model of the Year category.
The other nominees were Cece Kongwa, Jacob Mwape, Immanuel Musonda and Alexander Musonda from Zambia and Gofaone Tshata Moloi from Botswana.
Keitumile won in absentia and did not travel to Namibia due to what he described as hitches in travel arrangements.
Keitumile said the award does not have any monetary attachments but rather it is an emblem of recognition for one’s excellence in a field.
He said the win for him is an affirmation that everything is possible to excel in fashion and modelling.
“This is a fulfillment of several years of work and it is also a new challenge, it sets the bar really high for me.
It is something that could either turn out to be the pinnacle of my career of the actual budding phase of an even bigger one,” Keitumile said.
The model got nominated by KFW board and according to Keitumile, KFW has a board of judges that look through what particular people have done and achieved in fashion and modelling across Africa.
“They actually spotted me at a show in Lusaka, Zambia in 2020 and have been watching my work ever since,” he said.
He then appealed for support from different stakeholders for fashion and modelling industry.
“As a country, we need to have proper structures, the government and stakeholders, should see the need to invest. Modelling and fashion are the future. Our friends in West Africa and other regions in the continent are exporting their talents in numbers,” Keitumile said.
He said he was looking forward to Malawi exporting its models to work in big fashion houses like Prada, Louis and Vuitton.
“Fashion and modelling is a multi-billion dollar industry in other countries. We need to make use of the talent and equip our industry with the necessary resources and highly needed support,” Keitumile, who has a vast stream in the industry, said.
