13-year-old Nigerian-born tech genius, Emmanuella Mayaki has set a new record as she becomes one of the youngest persons to be accepted into a University in the United States of America.
Born in the United Kingdom to a Nigerian parents, Emmanuella gained admission into the Program for the Exceptionally Gifted (PEG) at one of the U.S. top universities, Mary Baldwin University. Emmanuella will study Computer Science, a program she is always passionate about.
The letter of admission given to her by the university reads; “Dear Emmanuella, congratulations on your acceptance to the Programme for the Exceptionally Gifted(PEG) at Mary Baldwin University! Welcome to the PEG class of 2026.”
At the age of 7, Emmanuella developed passion for computers and started learning basic computer skills from desktop publishing which includes Microsoft Words, Excel, PowerPoint and Corel Draw.
As a GenZ, Emmanuella took advantage of the numerous free courses offered by online learning sites like SoloLearn and Udemy where she gained vast knowledge on computer programming languages. She has a certificate in HTML fundamentals course, a certificate in PHP tutorial course, a certificate in CSS fundamentals course and a certificate in SQL fundamentals course, certificate in JavaScript tutorial course, certificate in JQuery tutorial course, and certificate in Logic Building, Python and Java programming.
Emmanuella’s passion for computers led her to set up an ICT Academy for girls in Abuja, Nigeria in 2020 when she was only 11 years old. Her goal is to empower young girls from age 6 to 15 in Nigeria to acquire digital skills and narrow the gap on digital literacy between boys and girls. She named the ICT Academy ‘CodeKid’. At CodeKid, young girls learn from basic computer skills like Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint and more to complex skills like WordPress website development, Graphics design, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, MySQL, Python and Java.
The young tech genius had always been a knowledge giver person. Before 11, she had already started teaching her peers basic computer skills. Her first teaching job was first offered by the Southfields Primary School in Coventry, England where she teaches ICT skills.
In 2021, She was nominated to be featured in Microsoft’s Legacy Project Virtual Museum’s Women’s History Month Experience. In that same year, she was identified as one of the UK’s most influential groundbreaking female change-makers. As if that wasn’t enough, Emmanuella was featured in CBBC’s My Life series for the International Women’s Day – all this happened in the year 2021.
After reading the incredible story of Emmanuella, Data Science Nigeria decided to invite the young tech genius as a speaker for their Interactive Workshop for kids and teens in Nigeria. In May 2022, she was nominated as a STEM icon by STEM Kids New York City, United States of America.