Mpule Keneilwe Kwelagobe is a Motswana investor, businesswoman, model, and beauty queen who was crowned Miss Universe 1999. She was the first black African woman to win one of the Big Four international beauty pageants, the first woman from Botswana to win, and the first from a nation making their debut in nearly four decades. Kwelagobe had previously been crowned Miss Botswana 1997 and Miss Universe Botswana 1999, and competed in Miss World 1997.
Kwelagobe in 2013
The Tswana are a Bantu ethnic group native to Southern Africa. Ethnic Tswana made up approximately 85% of the population of Botswana in 2011.
A Young Motswana woman
18th Century Tswana Warrior
Batlhapings on a journey, Seven Years in South Africa, page 126
Batlhapings sewing, Seven Years in South Africa, page 133