Nigeria's Anne-Marie Imafidon decorated with MBE at. Buckingham Palace

By Ahaoma Oji Kanu
Annemarie Imafidon with her MBE
Annemarie Imafidon with her MBE

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 nd 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.

pic.twitter.com/l198QZtUWj
6:50 AM - 19 May 2017 - "The Royal Family
@RoyalFamily"
She was accompanied to the event by her family dubbed "Britain's .Most

Brilliant family" to has been invited by the 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

whose family has been dubbed the Brainiest Family in Europe,

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 http://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 adminisered 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 http://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.”