Santa Anzo is a Ugandan fashion designer, model and entrepreneur who is popularly known as the founder and managing director of the fashion house called Arapapa Fashion House which is found in Kampala the capital city of Uganda and she is also the founder and the current president of the Uganda International Fashion Week which is basically an annual fashion exhibition.
Santa Anzo was born in Kampala which is found in the Central region of Uganda in the year 1975. Her parents originated from Moyo district which is found in WestNile region of Uganda.
Santa Anzo started her primary school education at Old Kampala primary school and later then transfered to Bat Valley Primary School which was where she completed her primary school education.
Santa Anzo then joined Madhivani College which is found in Wairaka in Jinja district where she studied for her ordinary level of education.
After completing her ordinary level of education went to study at Progressive Secondary School which is found in Bweyogerere in Wakiso district and it was there that she completed her secondary school education.
After secondary school, Santa Anzo joined Dolphins Fashion School where she studied Fashion design and successfully graduated with a diploma in fashion design.
In the year 1995, Santa Anzo got a job working as a waitress at Kampala Casino and as uck would have it she met someone who told her that she could actually pursue modelling at the same place where she worked when she was not on duty.
In the year 1999, Santa Anzo met with one of Uganda's top fashion designers who is called Slyvia Owori and the two decided to start a maodelling agency that they called Ziper models.
Santa Anzo managed the business end of things like the finances, sales, acted as the model trainer while Slyvia Owori managed the talent that came through to the agency.
Their business relationship lasted for about 16 months before Santa Anzo decided to walk away from Ziper models and start her own agency that she called Arapapa.
In the year 2001, Santa Anzo started Arapapa which is a word meaning butterfly in her native Madi language. After two years of running the Arapapa fashion brand, Santa Anzo decided to launch what she called the Uganda International Fashion Week which is an initiative that aims at showcasing the fashion designs that are coming out of Uganda to the world.
Santa Anzo has been able to showcase her designs in various countries during fashion festivals like Fashion for Peace initiative , the Kenyan Fashion Week, Mozambique Fashion Week, Swahili Fashion Week which took place in Dares Salaam in Tanzania, African Fashion Exchange in Durban in South Africa and many other countries.
Santa Anzo has been able to receive numerous awards and honors as a result of her excellence in the fashion industry and some of these awards and honors are prize for the Presidential Transformers Appreciation Award in the month of December in the year 2016, Lifetime Fashion Icon achievement award in the year 2015, the President of the UN Security Council in the year 2014, recognized Santa Anzo for her contribution to the fashion industry in Uganda selecting her as one of the 87 women in Uganda that have scaled heights and applauded for being a pioneer in African fashion and also the modelling careers in Uganda.
Santa Anzo is an inspiration to all the youths out there especially those in Uganda and across Africa who would like to join the fashion industry that you can achieve alot with small beginnings, all you need to do is to start wherever you are.
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