Nigeria's Anne-Marie Imafidon decorated with MBE at
Buckingham Palace
Nigeria’s Miss Anne-Marie Osawemwemze Imafidon has been
decorated by Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, with the prestigious honour of
Member of the Most Excellent British Empire (MBE) for her services to young
women with specialty in Sciences, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics
(STEM).. The event happened this evening and has been announced on the Royal
Family official Twitter handle this morning.
"Anne-Marie Imafidon, @stemettes founder, has been
awarded an #MBE for her work inspiring the next generation of women into STEM
subjects.
She was accompanied to the event by her family dubbed
"Britain's Most Brilliant family" to Buckingham palace in central
London which is the London residence of the Queen of England.
With her achievement today, she becomes the youngest
scientist ever to get this award, as most young people get the Queen's honour
for sports.
The eldest daughter of world renowned Professor Chris and
Ann Imafidon, Anne-Marie holds the record of being one of the youngest managers
of Fortune 100 top companies and later became an assistant Vice President with
German's top bank, Deutsche bank. In school, due to participation in the
www.ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk programme, she set a new record to become the
youngest girl to ever pass two High school (GCSE) examinations — for
Mathematics and Information Technology and A-level computing at the age of 11
in Britain.
Due to her high exceptional brilliance, she received a
British Scholarship to study Mathematics at the John Hopkins University at the
age of 13 in 2003. Two years later, she commenced a degree at Oxford University
after which she enrolled for her Masters degree setting another record of the
youngest Masters degree holder from the
Ivy league university.
Dr Imafidon, who is a multi-linguist, speaks six
languages and has worked with Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Bank,
and Lehman Brothers. In 2013, she founded Stemettes, a social enterprise which
inspires the next generation of women into pursuing careers in science,
technology, engineering, and mathematics with an objective to break barriers
women who pursue a career in the field face.
Stemettes, which grants awards to young women, have
programs workshops and events designed to introduce young women to STEM
careers, concepts, and role models, have attracted over 7000 young women from
across the UK, Ireland and Europe.
The 27 year old said her achievements was as a result of
her unique training administered by her parents.
“I’m ecstatic beyond words as this is divine and simply
God-sent. Nobody would have expected this when my journey started with the
mathematical and science games at Excellence in Education (EIE) programme a few
years ago. This programme equipped me with the unique pedagogical techniques
which makes learning fun and it is radically different from conventional
school. It helps anyone tackle educational and even professional challenges with
ease,.” She said.
Dr Imafidon’s rather unique achievements at a young age
has stood her out as a person to watch out for by the British press; she was
named on Evening Standard’s recent list of ’25 under 25s’ and a Guardian ‘Top
10 women in tech you need to know’ as well as being the UK IT Industry &
British Computer Society’s Young IT Professional of the Year in 2013.
Her father, an eminent adviser to European, and American
governments, presidents and monarchs, Professor Chris Imafidon, known as the patriarch
of Britain's brainiest family, said he received the news of this honour with
shock, and that the celebrations for this award will last a year and ripple
over a lifetime.
“Like every parent would feel, we are still in shock.
This is simply God-orchestrated. I, personally never believed that her young
career would accelerate to this historic height. This is beyond belief,” he
said in a chat.
The Imafidon family definitely have the achievers blood
running in their DNA as not only Anne-Marie dominates their achievements wall
of fame. All five children have set new records in scholarships, sports and
music. For example, Dr Anne-Marie Imafidon's sister, Christiana, 24, is the
youngest student to ever study at an undergraduate institution at any British university
at 11; another sister, Samantha, 17, having passed two rigorous high
school-level mathematics and statistics exams at the age of six, while the
twins, Peter and Paul, made British history as the youngest students to ever
enter high school when they became the youngest to ever pass the University of
Cambridge’s advanced mathematics exam, setting world records by passing the
A/AS-level math papers.
However, the head of the family, world renowned professor
Chris Imafidon argues that every child is a genius if provided with the
appropriate tools, technology, techniques and methodology.
With the Imafidon family setting across the world, he
advised parents to change their methods of education in an obvious changing
world in order to explore every child’s gifts and talents. Every parent should
embrace the re-engineered ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk approach.
“The same God has given every child gifts and talents. We
parents must join the ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk in developing such massive
potential. As stated in my forthcoming book entitled "The Genius in
You", we can't use the old methodology of learning. Schools and society
must wake to the re-engineered system of education that understands that there
is a genius in every child and greatness in every adult. This genius is
irrespective of ethnicity, gender, nationality, postcode, class or creed. So
every family can equal or exceed our achievements.”
Prof. Imafidon revealed that Anne-Marie will be visiting
Nigeria very soon to also offer Nigeria young minds interested in pursuing a
career in STEM an opportunity to realize their dreams.“Our grandparents taught us that charity begins at home.
We are very enthusiastic about Africa and must contribute our quota to the
training and education of young minds. We want to launch a bigger program in
Africa, particularly Nigeria and work with the corporate community, industry
leaders so that we can deploy the re-engineered learning methodology of
www.ExcellenceinEducation.org.uk program. We know that with these programs
young Nigerians can equal or exceed our record-breaking achievement. The next
generation of Africans have no choice but excel because there is a genius in
everyone.”
