Botswana aspires to host Miss Teen International next year
Miss Teen International 2026 likely to be hosted in Botswana
Botswana’s pageantry landscape is buzzing with the possibility of hosting a major international event. The founding director of Miss Teen Botswana, Nicole Gaelebale, has submitted a proposal to the Ministry of Sport and Arts to bring the Miss Teen International 2026 pageant to Botswana.
If successful, this would be a historic moment, making Botswana the first African country to host the global event, which will feature contestants from 50 nations and be broadcast to millions worldwide.
The Miss Teen Botswana organization, which has been running for six years, has already proven its ability to produce top talent on the international stage. Anicia Gaothusi, the first Miss Teen Botswana, was crowned second runner-up at the international competition in 2019.
The current titleholder, Margaret Nasha, an 18-year-old from Otse, is set to compete at Miss Teen International 2025 in India this August. To demonstrate their readiness to host, the Miss Teen Botswana team showcased an international-standard stage setup during their 2025 pageant, and their efforts have paid off, as they have been provisionally awarded the hosting rights for 2026.
However, the path to hosting is not without its hurdles. Minister of Arts and Sports, Jacob Kelebeng, while appreciative of the Miss Teen Botswana team’s achievements, has voiced a significant concern about the lack of communication and collaboration among pageantry organizers in Botswana. His ministry has received four different proposals to host international events, including the one from Miss Teen Botswana, but a fragmented approach is deemed unfeasible.
Minister Kelebeng has called upon the various pageantry organizations, including Miss Botswana, Miss Universe Botswana, and Mrs. Botswana, to come together and reach a consensus. He emphasized that hosting multiple international pageants in a single year would be too costly and is “more likely unlikely.”
Instead, he proposed that the government would be more willing to support and facilitate the hosting of one major international pageant per year. He stressed the importance of a “common agreement on which event to host next year” to ensure the government can provide the necessary support.
This request for collaboration comes amidst a backdrop of a previous public announcement by Miss Botswana organizers about their own aspiration to host Miss World 2026, an initiative that has seen no recent updates.
The challenge now lies with Botswana’s pageantry community to set aside their individual ambitions and work together for the greater good of showcasing Botswana on a global platform.
The opportunity to host Miss Teen International 2026 is a significant one, promising to highlight the nation’s culture, creativity, and leadership. But to seize this opportunity, the organizers must first unite and present a single, cohesive plan that the government can get behind.
