Jihan Dimack: Tanzania closes ranks behind its grand crown hope

DAR ES SALAAM: THE calls are coming from different corners of the country, but they are carrying the same message: stand behind Jihan Dimack.

From government voices and beauty queens to musicians, fashion personalities and social-media campaigners, support for the national’s representative at Miss Grand International 2026 has grown into something much bigger than an ordinary pageant campaign.

It has become a national effort to keep the queen moving through the final stages of one of the world’s most watched beauty competitions.

And now, with the Miss Grand International 2026 grand finale taking place tomorrow, the margin for hesitation has disappeared. The preliminary work is done.

The voting battles have brought Jihan this far. What remains is the biggest test of all, the final stage, where performance, communication, confidence and composure will determine who gets the crown.

For Tanzania, this is no longer simply about having a representative in Bangkok. It is about whether the country can turn the extraordinary support behind Jihan into the kind of momentum that carries her all the way to the final question and, potentially, the crown.

From pageant support to a national campaign

Jihan’s journey through the competition has been fuelled by a level of public mobilisation that has reached well beyond the usual pageant audience.

Tanzanians have been voting, sharing campaign material, reposting calls for support and using their personal networks to keep her name visible.

The Permanent Secretary in the Ministry for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Gerson Msigwa, who is also the Chief Government Spokesperson has been among the voices calling on Tanzanians not to lose that momentum.

In his Instagram appeal, Msigwa presented Jihan’s campaign as an opportunity for Tanzania to demonstrate its pride on an international platform, while also encouraging the public to keep voting in the Country’s Power of the Year contest.

His message carried a sense of urgency because the competition was becoming increasingly close. He urged Tanzanians not to allow Ecuador to overtake Tanzania and reminded supporters that every vote was part of the country’s effort to finish strongly.

He also framed the campaign as a matter of national dignity and encouraged people to keep pushing rather than assuming that reaching the later rounds meant the job was already done.

That call has been reinforced by voices from Tanzania’s beauty and entertainment industries.

Miss Universe Tanzania Queen Elizabeth has publicly appealed for Tanzanians to put aside the usual rivalry that can exist between different pageant platforms and unite behind Jihan.

Her intervention has been significant precisely because it crosses the boundaries of individual pageant organisations.

Rather than asking Tanzanians to choose between competing beauty queens, the message has been that, when one Tanzanian woman is carrying the national flag internationally, the country can stand behind her together.

Then there is Diamond Platnumz, whose influence reaches far beyond the traditional beautypageant audience.

The Bongo Flava superstar has used his huge digital following to amplify the voting campaign and encourage his fans to support Jihan.

That gives the Tanzanian campaign an important advantage: it is not restricted to people who already follow pageantry, but can reach music fans and a wider international audience.

Nandy has also made her position clear. The singer and fashion influencer appealed directly to her followers on Instagram, asking them to support their fellow Tanzanian and expressing the hope that the crown would come home.

Her message: “Followers, please, let’s show our support for our Tanzanian girl.

She has to come back home!!” captured the emotional character of the campaign: Jihan is being supported not simply as a contestant, but as one of Tanzania’s own. Behind much of that online energy is Jenifer Jovin, whom Jihan has recognised as mobilisation officer.

Her role has been to keep the campaign active, coordinate public-voting efforts and maintain pressure as Jihan has moved from one stage to another.

In a competition where public engagement can directly affect progression, that mobilisation has become part of the contest itself.

Jihan knows the support is bigger than her

Jihan herself has repeatedly acknowledged that the campaign belongs to more than one person.

After Tanzania advanced in the Country’s Power of the Year competition, she thanked those who had voted, shared her posts, reposted campaign material and encouraged others to join.

She described the achievement as being bigger than herself and credited the Tanzanians who had contributed to getting her there.

That response matters because Jihan appears to understand the psychology of the campaign.

The more Tanzanians feel that they are participating in her journey, the stronger the emotional connection becomes. Every vote becomes a small contribution to a larger national story.

And that story has continued to gather momentum. Jihan reached the final three of the Country’s Power of the Year contest alongside Ecuador and Vietnam after leading the previous four-country round with 32 per cent of the vote.

The eventual winner of that category earns an automatic place in the Top 20, making the public campaign an important route into the later stages. Her performance has also attracted attention from within the competition itself.

In a closed interview in which contestants were asked whom they would want to win if they could not win themselves, Tanzania was mentioned by 13 contestants second only to Vietnam, which received 14 mentions.

It is another indication that Jihan is not simply being noticed by Tanzanian fans; she is making an impression among her fellow contestants as well.

Then came the costume moment

If the voting campaign gave Tanzania numbers, Jihan’s national costume gave it an image. When she appeared on stage in a costume inspired by Tanzania’s wildlife, landscapes and cultural heritage, the reaction was immediate.

The presentation brought together the lion, elephant, zebra and giraffe with references to the Serengeti, Mount Kilimanjaro and Maasai-inspired beadwork and patterns.

The earthy gold, bronze and deep-green tones reinforced the connection to the Tanzanian landscape, while the dramatic headpiece and flowing cape gave the presentation the scale expected of an international pageant.

Tanzanite added another unmistakable national signature. The blue-violet gemstone, associated naturally with Tanzania, gave the costume a detail that went beyond the familiar safari imagery.

It reminded the audience that Tanzania’s identity can be communicated not only through its animals and landscapes, but also through the natural treasures found within the country.

The response spilled quickly into the online conversation. Viewers described the presentation with comments such as “Tanzania nailed it” and “She is gorgeous!”, while the wider voting figures showed Tanzania performing strongly across several public categories.

The costume therefore did something important for Jihan’s campaign: it made Tanzania visually memorable. But a beautiful costume can open a conversation. It cannot win the crown by itself.

ALSO READ: Jihan leads Miss Grand Power vote

The fashion expert’s warning: voting is only the beginning

This is where fashion expert Steven Mwasota’s assessment becomes particularly important.

Mwasota has urged Tanzanians to maintain the voting momentum, but he has also been careful to explain what those votes can and cannot achieve. The immediate objective, he said, is not to behave as though Jihan has already won Miss Grand International.

It is to push her through the stages that lead to the crown. “We are not voting so that we wake up tomorrow and find that Jihan has already won Miss Grand International. It does not work that way,” Mwasota said.

“What we are doing now is mobilising Tanzanians to vote and push her from the group of about 80 contestants into the Top 20.”

That distinction is crucial. Public support can create an opportunity, but once Jihan reaches the final stage, she has to take responsibility for what happens under the lights.

Mwasota sees the voting campaign not as the crown itself, but as the force that can help put Jihan in the position to compete for it.

He also sees something larger in the campaign. For Mwasota, a victory in Country’s Power of the Year would demonstrate more than pageant popularity; it would show national unity and patriotism.

“If Tanzania wins Country’s Power of the Year, we will have shown that we are a united nation, a country with solidarity, love and patriotism,” he said.

“That is what we are fighting for at the moment.”

And that may be the most sensible way to look at Tanzania’s campaign as the finale approaches.

The country has already demonstrated that it can mobilise. The question now is whether Jihan can convert that mobilisation into a winning performance.

So, how can Jihan win?

The first requirement is obvious: she needs Tanzania to keep supporting her, but that support now has to be understood as part of a bigger strategy rather than the entire strategy.

Jihan’s public-voting strength has already demonstrated that she can command attention. She has led important fast-track categories and remained at the centre of Tanzania’s online campaign.

But the closer she gets to the crown, the less room there is for the country to confuse popularity with victory. Mwasota’s warning is therefore worth remembering. The votes are helping to open the door.

Jihan still has to walk through it. That means her stage performance becomes critical. The official Miss Grand International format places considerable emphasis on live competition after the preliminary stages.

The Top 20 move into further live rounds, with contestants ultimately facing the Top 5 and a final question-andanswer session in which eloquence, intelligence and composure under pressure become decisive. This is where Jihan’s experience could work in her favour.

She is not new to international pageantry. She represented Tanzania at Miss Universe after winning Miss Universe Tanzania in 2016, and she has continued working in modelling and fashion.

Her official Miss Grand profile also lists communication, public speaking, leadership, adaptability and advocacy among her skills. Those qualities now need to come together at exactly the right time.

Jihan has to walk with confidence, communicate without sounding rehearsed and answer difficult questions with the calmness expected from a woman who could soon become an international titleholder.

Her strongest weapon may be her story

There is another advantage Jihan can use: she has a story that goes beyond conventional pageant beauty.

Her official profile describes her as half Tanzanian and half Lebanese, with experience of living in Tanzania, Lebanon and Mozambique and working in China. She presents that multicultural background as part of what shaped her understanding of diversity.

That fits naturally with the message she has carried into Miss Grand International. Jihan has placed peace, unity, diversity and tolerance at the centre of her advocacy, aligning herself with the competition’s “Stop the War and Violence” campaign.

Her message is that differences should be understood rather than used as reasons for conflict. If she reaches the final question, that gives her something more substantial to draw from than a generic pageant answer.

She can speak not only as a contestant asking for a crown, but as a Tanzanian woman shaped by different cultures who is presenting her country as one that values peace, diversity and unity.

That is the kind of answer that can stay with judges after the applause has stopped.

Tomorrow, the real test begins

The Miss Grand International 2026 finale is scheduled for tomorrow, in Bangkok, where the successor to reigning Miss Grand International Emma Tiglao of the Philippines will be crowned.

For Jihan, the finale is where all the separate pieces of her campaign have to come together.

The votes have created momentum. The costume gave her a memorable visual identity. Her pageant experience gives her a foundation.

The support from Tanzanians has given her an enormous emotional backing. And her advocacy gives her something meaningful to say.

But none of those things can answer the final question for her. When she stands on that stage, she will be alone. That is why the final message from Tanzania should not simply be “vote for Jihan”.

It should also be “believe in Jihan”. Believe that she can carry the pressure. Believe that she can communicate. Believe that she can stand among the strongest women in the competition and make the judges remember her when the final decision is made.

Mwasota’s warning remains the clearest reality check: the campaign has never been about assuming that votes automatically equal a crown. It has been about giving Jihan the chance to fight for it.

Now that opportunity is here. Jihan has already shown that she can make Tanzania visible. She has carried the country’s wildlife, landscapes, culture and colours onto an international stage.

She has built support at home, attracted recognition from fellow contestants and remained a strong presence in the public-voting battles.

Tomorrow, she gets the chance to turn all of that into the performance that matters most. For Tanzania, the instruction is simple: do not stop believing in her now. The country has voted.

The country has shared. The country has rallied. Its musicians, beauty queens, fashion voices, public figures and ordinary supporters have all helped carry Jihan this far. Now Jihan has to carry the rest. Tomorrow night, Tanzania will not just be watching a beauty queen compete.

It will be watching one of its own step into the biggest moment of her pageant career.

And if Jihan Dimack is going to bring the Miss Grand International crown home, this is the moment when all that support, all that preparation and all that national pride must finally become one unforgettable performance.

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