Vanessa Tendo Naddamba, 24, the former Miss Uganda UK 2022/23, was crowned Miss Manchester 2024 over the weekend, setting the stage for her to compete for the Miss England crown.

“It’s happening guys, we are going to Miss England,” she captioned a photo of her sandwiched by Miss Cheshire and Miss Lancashire. 

Tendo said she wants to use beauty pageantry to enable her give back and connect with Uganda’s young population. 

“The goal will and always has been to inspire young minds and empower them through education, bridge the gap in inequalities by working with the underprivileged, bring visibility to charities that make a difference to people’s lives each and everyday and encourage every girl to have the ability to wear different hats, take up space in the world and fields we would not normally be in,” she wrote online.

Born in Uganda, having spent her formative years in Kajjansi on Entebbe Road, Tendo moved to the UK in 2010 to live with her mother and study. 

In 2019, Tendo took part in Miss Africa Great Britain. In 2022 she competed for Miss England via Liverpool Heat and emerged first runner-up. 

She came to Uganda in 2023 for a month on Miss Uganda UK duties.