Privacy
Policy

01 Who we are and what this policy covers

1.1 The data controller

Mister Afrikana International (“MAI”, “we”, “us”) is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. Our head office is at Mister Afrikana International, Accra, Greater Accra Region, Ghana. We operate the Mister Afrikana International competition across 111 territories in six regions.

Contact for anything in this policy: [email protected] or +233 257 494 983.

1.2 What this policy covers

This policy covers personal data we collect when you use this website, when you apply to compete, when you apply for or hold a National Director licence, when you enquire about partnership or press, when you subscribe to our newsletter, when you attend or are accredited for an event, and when you communicate with us by any channel.

It should be read together with our Terms and Conditions and our Code of Conduct. Where a National Director collects data in their own territory, that Director is a separate controller for the data they collect, and their own notice applies to it as well.

1.3 The law we follow

We handle personal data in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843) of the Republic of Ghana and the rules of the Data Protection Commission. Where you are in a country with its own data protection law — including the United Kingdom, the European Economic Area, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya, South Africa or California — we also take account of the protections that law gives you, and you may exercise the rights in section 8 regardless of where you live.

1.4 Adults only

The Competition is for men aged 18 to 39. We do not knowingly collect personal data from anyone under 18. If we learn that we hold data about someone under 18, we will delete it. If you believe a young person has submitted data to us, tell us at [email protected].

02 What we collect

2.1 Identity and contact data

• title, first name and last name;
• email address, phone number and WhatsApp number;
• country, city and country of residence;
• date of birth, nationality, and the nation you contest or apply for;
• passport or national ID details where we need to verify age, identity or the right to represent a nation.

2.2 Application data

• biography, education, occupation and employment history;
• height and physical measurements, supplied for wardrobe and production planning;
• your community project or advocacy platform, and supporting material;
• social media handles and links, and any link to photographs or video you send us;
• photographs, video and audio recordings of you, including those we take ourselves at events;
• for National Directors: business details, company information, team members, track record, commercial information and references.

2.3 Health, fitness and safeguarding data

Because the Competition includes physical activity, travel and residential training, we may hold health and fitness information you give us, and any information needed to safeguard you and others, including emergency contact details, relevant medical conditions, and — where the law permits and it is relevant — the outcome of a criminal record check.

This is sensitive personal data. We collect it only where you have given explicit consent, or where it is necessary to protect your vital interests or those of another person, or for a safeguarding purpose permitted by law. We restrict access to it and keep it only as long as the season and any applicable limitation period require.

2.4 Information that reveals ethnicity

Mister Afrikana exists to platform men of African and diaspora descent, so the fact of your heritage, and photographs of you, may reveal racial or ethnic origin. Where the law treats that as a special category of data, we process it on the basis of your explicit consent, given when you apply, and only for the purpose of running and presenting the Competition.

2.5 Technical data

• IP address, approximate location derived from it, browser type and version, device type, operating system;
• pages visited, time on page, referring page, and interactions with the site;
• cookies and similar technologies, as set out in section 9.

2.6 Communications

Anything you send us by email, contact form, WhatsApp, social media, phone or post, and our record of what we sent you.

2.7 Financial data

Where a licence fee, partnership fee or other payment is payable, we hold records of the amount, the date, the reference and the invoice. Card details are handled by our payment providers and are not stored on our own systems.

2.8 What we do not collect

We do not collect data we do not need. We do not buy personal data from data brokers, we do not build advertising profiles, and we do not sell personal data to anyone.

03 Why we use your data, and our legal basis

We use personal data only where the law allows it. The table below sets out each purpose, the data used, and the basis we rely on.

3.1 If you do not provide it

Where we need data to run the Competition or to assess your application and you choose not to provide it, we may not be able to consider you, to progress you to the next round, or to grant you a licence. We will tell you when that is the case.

3.2 Withdrawing consent

Where we rely on consent, you may withdraw it at any time by writing to us. Withdrawing consent does not affect anything we did before you withdrew it, and it may mean we can no longer include you in the Competition, because publication of your image and story is part of it.

3.3 Automated decisions

We do not make decisions about you solely by automated means that have a legal effect on you. Every selection decision involves human judgment by a named Panel.

04 Who we share your data with

We share personal data only with the people who need it, only for the purposes in section 3, and only where they are bound to protect it.

4.1 National Directors and their teams

Your application is shared with the National Director for the territory you apply for, or with our international team where no director is appointed. Directors act as independent controllers for the data they hold about their own selection, and are required to protect it.

4.2 Judges and panels

Members of a Panel see the applications, materials, scores and results for the round they are judging. They are bound by confidentiality and by the Code of Conduct.

4.3 The public, broadcast and press

If you take part, information about you is published. That includes your name, nation, city, age, measurements, community project, photographs, footage, scores and results, on this website, in our social channels, in press material and in any broadcast. This is an intrinsic part of a public competition, and you consent to it by applying.

4.4 Service providers

We use providers to host this website, to receive and store form submissions, to send email, to process payments, to store files, to provide analytics, and to produce and broadcast events. They act on our instructions, under written terms that require them to protect the data, to use it only for the service they provide to us, and to delete or return it when we tell them to.

4.5 Partners and sponsors

We may share aggregate and anonymised audience information with partners and sponsors. We do not hand them your contact details for their own marketing unless you have opted in to that separately.

4.6 Professional advisers, authorities and legal claims

We may disclose data to our lawyers, accountants, auditors and insurers; to any court, regulator, law enforcement agency or authority where we are required to do so, or where disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of any person; and to any person where disclosure is necessary to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

4.7 If the business changes hands

If we reorganise, merge, or sell or transfer any part of our business, personal data may be transferred to the new owner, provided that owner continues to use it in accordance with this policy.

4.8 We never sell your data

We do not sell, rent or trade personal data, and we do not permit anyone else to do so with data we control.

05 Where your data goes

5.1 A global competition

Mister Afrikana operates across 111 territories in six regions. To run it, your data will be seen by people outside your own country, including our team in Ghana, your National Director, panels, event crews and broadcast partners.

5.2 Hosting and processing outside Ghana

Our website, storage and email systems are hosted with providers that operate infrastructure in the United States, the European Union and other countries. Your data will therefore be stored and processed outside Ghana, in countries whose data protection laws may differ from those in Ghana and from those where you live.

5.3 How we protect transferred data

Where we transfer data out of Ghana, or out of the United Kingdom or European Economic Area, we rely on one or more of the following:

• a contract with the recipient that requires them to protect the data to the standard required by the Data Protection Act 2012 (Act 843), or by the UK or EU standard conditions, as applicable;
• transfers to a country the relevant authority has recognised as providing adequate protection;
• your explicit consent, which you give by applying to a worldwide competition;
• transfers necessary to perform our contract with you, or to establish, exercise or defend a legal claim.

5.4 Your consent

By applying, taking part, or using this website, you consent to your personal data being transferred to, stored and processed in, the countries described in this section.

06 How long we keep it

We keep personal data only as long as we need it, and then delete it or anonymise it. Our standard periods are:

6.1 Longer, where the law requires it

We may keep data for longer than these periods where we are required to by law, or where it is needed for a live or reasonably anticipated legal claim. When that period ends, the data is deleted or anonymised.

07 Security, and what happens if something goes wrong

7.1 How we protect your data

We use appropriate technical and organisational measures, including:

• encryption of data in transit, and encryption at rest where the service supports it;
• access on a need-to-know basis, with individual accounts and strong passwords, and two-factor authentication where available;
• restricted access to sensitive data, including health and safeguarding records;
• written terms with every provider that handles data for us;
• confidentiality obligations on staff, judges, directors and contractors;
• regular review of what we hold, and deletion of what we no longer need;
• staff awareness of phishing, social engineering and data handling.

7.2 No system is perfect

We work hard to protect your data, but no system, network or transmission over the internet can be guaranteed secure. You use the website and send us information at your own risk, and you are responsible for keeping your own devices, accounts and passwords secure, and for telling us promptly if you think someone has accessed your data.

7.3 If there is a breach

Where a personal data breach occurs we will act quickly to contain it and to assess the risk to you. Where the law requires it, we will notify the Data Protection Commission and any other relevant authority within the period the law sets, and we will notify you without undue delay where a breach is likely to result in a high risk to your rights and freedoms.

7.4 Phishing and impersonation

We will never ask you for your bank password or for a one-time code by email, phone or social media. If someone claiming to be from Mister Afrikana asks you for payment details or a code, do not respond, and tell us at [email protected].

08 Your rights

8.1 What you can ask us for

Subject to the exceptions in the law, you have the right to:

• be informed about how we use your data — which is what this policy is for;
• access a copy of the personal data we hold about you;
• rectify data that is inaccurate or incomplete;
• erase your data, or ask us to stop processing it, in some circumstances;
• restrict processing while a dispute about accuracy or lawfulness is resolved;
• object to processing based on our legitimate interests, and to object to direct marketing at any time;
• data portability — to receive data you gave us in a structured, machine-readable format, where the right applies;
• withdraw consent at any time, where we rely on consent;
• not be subject to a decision made solely by automated means that has a legal effect on you;
• complain to a data protection authority (section 8.5).

8.2 How to make a request

Write to [email protected] with “Data request” in the subject line, and tell us what you want. We will need to verify your identity before we act, and we may ask for a copy of an identity document for that purpose.

8.3 How long we take

We respond within one month of receiving a request, or within the shorter period the law requires. If a request is complex, we may extend the period and will tell you why. There is no charge for a first request; we may charge a reasonable fee, or refuse, where a request is manifestly unfounded or excessive.

8.4 When we may say no

Some rights are not absolute. We may refuse, in whole or in part, where the law allows or requires it — for example where erasing data would prevent us from meeting a legal obligation, where the data is needed for a legal claim, where it forms part of a published historical archive, or where the request would adversely affect the rights of another person. If we refuse, we will tell you why and explain how to complain.

8.5 Complaints

Please raise it with us first so we can put it right. You also have the right to complain to the Data Protection Commission of Ghana, or to the data protection authority in the country where you live or work.

8.6 Marketing choices

Every marketing message we send includes a way to opt out, and you can ask us to stop at any time by writing to us. Opting out of marketing does not stop us sending you service messages about an application, a licence or an event you are involved in.

09 Cookies, analytics and this website

9.1 What we use

• Essential — needed for the site to work, including remembering your language choice, your cookie preference, and the state of a form you are part-way through.
• Preference — remembering choices such as your region filter.
• Analytics — anonymous or aggregated information about which pages are visited and how the site performs, so we can improve it.

9.2 What we do not use

We do not run advertising trackers, and we do not allow third parties to build behavioural advertising profiles from your visit to this site. Where we embed content from another platform — a video player or a social feed, for example — that platform may set its own cookies once you load it, and its own policy applies.

9.3 Managing cookies

You can block, delete or restrict cookies in your browser settings. If you block essential cookies, parts of this site may not work, including the application forms.

9.4 If this changes

If we introduce a new category of cookie or tracking technology, we will update this policy and, where the law requires it, ask for your consent before it is set.

10 Changes to this policy, and how to contact us

10.1 Changes

We may update this policy from time to time. The current version is shown by the version number and the “last updated” date at the top of the page. Where a change is material, we will take reasonable steps to bring it to your attention, including by notice on this website or by email to applicants, directors and subscribers.

10.2 Older versions

If you need a previous version of this policy, write to us and we will send it to you.

10.3 Contact

• Data requests and general questions [email protected]
• Franchise and licence records [email protected]
• Phone and WhatsApp +233 257 494 983 · Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm GMT
• Post Mister Afrikana International, Accra, Greater Accra Region, Ghana
• Regulator Data Protection Commission, Republic of Ghana

We aim to answer every enquiry as soon as possible, and always within 24 hours.