13 things about Miss Universe South Africa 2025 Melissa Nayimuli

Melissa Nayimuli competed in Miss South Africa twice. She represented South Africa in the 74th edition of Miss Universe.

BIOGRAPHY

Nayimuli is a Ugandan-South African film and television producer, scriptwriter, voice artist, model and beauty queen. She was born in Butterworth, Eastern Cape, South Africa to a Ugandan father, a retired lecturer, and a Xhosa mother, a nurse.

On January 2, 2025, Nayimuli turned 29. Here are 10 more things about her:

1. From 2009 to 2013, she attended The Glen High School in Pretoria.
2. From 2014 to 2016, she attended Africa Film Drama Art (AFDA) Johannesburg in Johannesburg, Gauteng, South Africa where she earned a bachelor’s degree in motion picture medium major in television writing.
3. She did not make it past the first judging round when she auditioned for Miss South Africa in 2016 and in 2018.
4. In 2017, she was a junior production coordinator at “The Voice Nigeria” and a post-production coordinator at “The Voice Afrique Francophone”.
5. In 2018, she was a production manager at The Fanta Squad at African Media and Production Network.
6. From 2018 to 2021, she was an account manager at Levergy in Johannesburg.
7. She was a Miss South Africa 2020 finalist.
8. She visited Tanzania in 2021, Lesotho and Brazil in 2022, Turkiye and Mauritius in 2023, Indonesia, Morocco and England, United Kingdom in 2024 and Thailand in 2025.
9. In 2021, she worked as a production manager at Hipster Media and joined Black Brain Pictures as a scriptwriter.
10. She was the creative producer of 2023 film “Clean Job” and the 2024 films “Piano Love” and “Mr. Easy Loo”.
11. She was a Miss South Africa 2023 finalist.
12. She is Miss Universe South Africa 2025.
13. She was a Miss Universe 2025 candidate.

TIMELINE

Aside from Butterworth, Nayimuli has lived in other parts of South Africa including Sunninghill, Sandton, Gauteng. She has one older sister, who studied medicine in Cuba, one older brother, who studied aviation, one younger brother and one younger sister.

2010s

• In November 2016, she graduated cum laude from AFDA Johannesburg.

2020s

• On October 24, 2020, she competed against nine other Miss South Africa 2020 finalists at The Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town, Western Cape, South Africa and finished in the Top 5.
• In March 2021, she became the face of Forever New South Africa.
• In December 2021, she traveled to Nungwi, Zanzibar, Tanzania.
• In June 2022, she traveled to Lesotho.
• In December 2022, she traveled to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
• In January 2023, she traveled to Istanbul, Turkiye.
• In June 2023, she had an Imbe Swim photoshoot in Mauritius.
• On August 13, 2023, she competed against six other Miss South Africa 2023 finalists at the SunBet Arena of Time Square in Pretoria, Tshwane, Gauteng. She finished in the Top 5.
• In January 2024, she traveled to Bali, Indonesia.
• In May 2024, she traveled to Taghazout, Souss-Massa, Morocco and Marrakech, Morocco.
• In September 2024, she traveled to London, England.
• On October 22, 2025, she was appointed Miss Universe South Africa 2025.
• On November 21, 2025, she represented South Africa at Miss Universe 2025 and competed against 119 other candidates at the Impact Challenger Hall in Pak Kret, Nonthaburi, Thailand. She was unplaced.