It’s a good time to be a beauty queen in the UAE. Following the historic announcement earlier this month that the UAE will be sending its first contestant to the Miss Universe pageant, a Dubai entrepreneur and mother-of-two will soon make history as the first to represent the Emirates at another global competition: the Mrs World contest.
Debanjali Kamstra, 35, an Indian businesswoman who’s called the UAE home for the past 13 years, will be among 72 contestants who compete for the crown, which the organisation says “celebrates the uniqueness of married women”.
To be held in Las Vegas in January, Kamstra says she was taken aback by the enthusiastic response she received from the organisers in September.
Scroll through the gallery above for more images of Mrs UAE World Debanjali Kamstra.
“It was a friend who encouraged me to apply,” she tells The National. "I immediately got a call back from Mrs World saying they were surprised because no one from the UAE had ever applied before. We then did a couple of rounds of interviews before I was told I'd been selected as Mrs UAE World.
“They understand the UAE and that so many expatriates call it home. So, me not being a citizen was not an issue for them,” she says. “Also, our UAE leaders have made it very clear that everyone living here should consider this as their country and their home. So that encouraged me.”
A former cabin crew with Emirates airline, Kamstra is also an architect and opened her first interior design business, Veloche, in Dubai a decade ago. She has since started two more companies, one selling home interiors and the other dealing in healthy snacks and drinks.
She married her husband, Christiaan, in 2012 and the couple live in Dubai with their two daughters, Victoria, 6, and Tiffany, 5.
While the world of modelling and beauty pageants are new to her, Kamstra says she's confident she’ll make a great representative for the UAE.
“I am a self-made woman. I run three companies, have two beautiful children, a great husband and I am proud to be living in this country,” she says.
“I am still struggling to get my catwalk right though," she adds, laughing.
Because there has never been a Mrs UAE World before, Kamstra says her preparations for the contest have been entirely self-funded.
“We are in talks with fashion designers who can help me with the dresses. I have also started coaching myself in the history of the UAE and also everything from make-up to posture, diction and general knowledge.
“I am also doing a lot of social work, because that’s an important element of the pageant. My focus will be working with people of determination, which is also something our leaders take very seriously."
Kamstra says she is still looking for assistance from people experienced in beauty pageants to guide her for the Mrs World pageant.
“Other countries have a body or organisation that selects representatives and groom them for such competitions. We don’t have any here in the UAE so it will be nice to get some help,” she says.
When it was announced earlier this month, Miss Universe UAE, which will send a representative to the global pageant, received thousands of applications in the first hour, crashing the organiser’s website.
On Friday, 300 aspiring beauty queens including Emiratis attended the first audition in Dubai for a chance to make pageant history.
The Mrs World contest has been held since 1984. Cancelled this year owing to the pandemic, the pageant made global news in April when title holder Caroline Jurie resigned amid controversy surrounding a crown-snatching incident at a Sri Lankan beauty contest. Kate Schneider from Ireland, the first runner-up, was named the new Mrs World 2020.
Kamstra says she would like to be a part of setting up an organisation that would send participants from the UAE to the Mrs World competition.
“I would love to take that opportunity to help other contestants in the future. I am already an entrepreneur. I have the leadership and mentoring skills and I would love to do it,” she says. “Maybe after I bring the [Mrs World] crown home.”
For now, her sights are firmly set on being the “perfect representative of the UAE” in Las Vegas come January.
“It’s like going to the Olympics and representing an entire country. So my shoulders are quite heavy right now. It’s a lot of pressure,” she says.
“I want the UAE to shine. It’s a lot of responsibility but I am quite confident I can do it. This is a competition not of an individual, but a nation. So I need support from my country to stand beside me, to cheer for me and for the UAE."
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
New UK refugee system
- A new “core protection” for refugees moving from permanent to a more basic, temporary protection
- Shortened leave to remain - refugees will receive 30 months instead of five years
- A longer path to settlement with no indefinite settled status until a refugee has spent 20 years in Britain
- To encourage refugees to integrate the government will encourage them to out of the core protection route wherever possible.
- Under core protection there will be no automatic right to family reunion
- Refugees will have a reduced right to public funds
Coffee: black death or elixir of life?
It is among the greatest health debates of our time; splashed across newspapers with contradicting headlines - is coffee good for you or not?
Depending on what you read, it is either a cancer-causing, sleep-depriving, stomach ulcer-inducing black death or the secret to long life, cutting the chance of stroke, diabetes and cancer.
The latest research - a study of 8,412 people across the UK who each underwent an MRI heart scan - is intended to put to bed (caffeine allowing) conflicting reports of the pros and cons of consumption.
The study, funded by the British Heart Foundation, contradicted previous findings that it stiffens arteries, putting pressure on the heart and increasing the likelihood of a heart attack or stroke, leading to warnings to cut down.
Numerous studies have recognised the benefits of coffee in cutting oral and esophageal cancer, the risk of a stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
The benefits are often linked to biologically active compounds including caffeine, flavonoids, lignans, and other polyphenols, which benefit the body. These and othetr coffee compounds regulate genes involved in DNA repair, have anti-inflammatory properties and are associated with lower risk of insulin resistance, which is linked to type-2 diabetes.
But as doctors warn, too much of anything is inadvisable. The British Heart Foundation found the heaviest coffee drinkers in the study were most likely to be men who smoked and drank alcohol regularly.
Excessive amounts of coffee also unsettle the stomach causing or contributing to stomach ulcers. It also stains the teeth over time, hampers absorption of minerals and vitamins like zinc and iron.
It also raises blood pressure, which is largely problematic for people with existing conditions.
So the heaviest drinkers of the black stuff - some in the study had up to 25 cups per day - may want to rein it in.
Rory Reynolds
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more from Janine di Giovanni
Should late investors consider cryptocurrencies?
Wealth managers recommend late investors to have a balanced portfolio that typically includes traditional assets such as cash, government and corporate bonds, equities, commodities and commercial property.
They do not usually recommend investing in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies due to the risk and volatility associated with them.
“It has produced eye-watering returns for some, whereas others have lost substantially as this has all depended purely on timing and when the buy-in was. If someone still has about 20 to 25 years until retirement, there isn’t any need to take such risks,” Rupert Connor of Abacus Financial Consultant says.
He adds that if a person is interested in owning a business or growing a property portfolio to increase their retirement income, this can be encouraged provided they keep in mind the overall risk profile of these assets.
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Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
Who is Mohammed Al Halbousi?
The new speaker of Iraq’s parliament Mohammed Al Halbousi is the youngest person ever to serve in the role.
The 37-year-old was born in Al Garmah in Anbar and studied civil engineering in Baghdad before going into business. His development company Al Hadeed undertook reconstruction contracts rebuilding parts of Fallujah’s infrastructure.
He entered parliament in 2014 and served as a member of the human rights and finance committees until 2017. In August last year he was appointed governor of Anbar, a role in which he has struggled to secure funding to provide services in the war-damaged province and to secure the withdrawal of Shia militias. He relinquished the post when he was sworn in as a member of parliament on September 3.
He is a member of the Al Hal Sunni-based political party and the Sunni-led Coalition of Iraqi Forces, which is Iraq’s largest Sunni alliance with 37 seats from the May 12 election.
He maintains good relations with former Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki’s State of Law Coaliton, Hadi Al Amiri’s Badr Organisation and Iranian officials.
The biog
Name: Gul Raziq
From: Charsadda, Pakistan
Family: Wife and six children
Favourite holes at Al Ghazal: 15 and 8
Golf Handicap: 6
Childhood sport: cricket
Keep it fun and engaging
Stuart Ritchie, director of wealth advice at AES International, says children cannot learn something overnight, so it helps to have a fun routine that keeps them engaged and interested.
“I explain to my daughter that the money I draw from an ATM or the money on my bank card doesn’t just magically appear – it’s money I have earned from my job. I show her how this works by giving her little chores around the house so she can earn pocket money,” says Mr Ritchie.
His daughter is allowed to spend half of her pocket money, while the other half goes into a bank account. When this money hits a certain milestone, Mr Ritchie rewards his daughter with a small lump sum.
He also recommends books that teach the importance of money management for children, such as The Squirrel Manifesto by Ric Edelman and Jean Edelman.
