27-year-old Nigerian lady Anne-Marie Osawemwemze Imafidon was one of the British citizens who received a national honour from Queen Elizabeth II.
She was decorated with the prestigious honour of Member of the Most Excellent British Empire (MBE) in an important event hosted by the Queen .
Anne- Marie was honoured for her work in inspiring and supporting young women into Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics careers.
Others Nigerians who will also be honoured this year include Elizabeth Nneka Anionwu, a Professor of Nursing, who gets an OBE for her services in nursing and the Mary Seacole statue appeal; Chris Ofili, an artist who gets a CBE for his services to arts and Jeremiah Oluwatosin Ayotunde, a Cadet Colour Sergeant who gets an OBE for his services to young people and the community of London.
Anne-Marie holds the record of being the youngest girl to ever pass two GCSE examinations — for Mathematics and Information Technology and A-level computing at the age of 11 in Britain.
An MBE is an award given by the Queen to an individual for outstanding service to the community or local hands on service.
Due to her high exceptional brilliance, she received a British Scholarship to study Mathematics at 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 university.
Imafidon speaks six languages and has worked with Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Bank, and Lehman.
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.
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 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.
