Six-year-old Nigerian student, Damilare Akano, has emerged Africa’s youngest Microsoft specialist in the Certiport international certification. He surpassed over 200 students that participated in ‘Nextgen IT Experts’ a month-long summer camp organised by New Horizons.
Speaking on Akano’s achievement, the Managing Director of New Horizons, Tim Akano, said the 6-year-old’s success did not come as a surprise and represents the excellence for which New Horizons is known.
“Over 75 per cent of those who work in the ICT departments of corporate Nigeria today passed through New Horizons training either in our partnering universities or in one of our training centres across Nigeria. We are happy to have solved one problem for Nigeria,”
Tim Akano, Managing Director of New Horizons
During the ‘Nextgen IT Experts’ summer camp, the young campers were subjected to a simulated work environment. Here, they learned Microsoft Office-based skills and a range of different courses including Multimedia, Robotics Engineering, Drone Technology, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, AI, IoT, Coding.
The programme also provided industry-leading assessments of skills and knowledge through Microsoft’s new project-based testing, giving students and professionals real-world exercises to appraise their understanding of Microsoft Office.
During the Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2016 examination, 6-year-old Damilare Akano displayed superb knowledge taking the top spot with 871 out of 1000 points. 10-year-old Master Toluwalese Kwaku came in second with 825, while 8-year-old Master Kolawole Akano came in third with 800 points.
Akano, a primary one student of Scholar Crest International, Lagos, with his performance, has become the youngest in Africa in 2019. He is also one of the youngest in the world to attain a professional qualification from Microsoft, according to New Horizon.
The test guarantees that every certified user has demonstrated the ability to command the full features and functionality of Microsoft Office, preparing them for future academic or workforce opportunities.
Akano’s achievement has been published widely and generally lauded by both the press and the public. The feat gives students as young as Akano motivation to learn more about tech.
A programme like ‘Nextgen IT Experts’ could be the spark the next generation of Nigerian youths and students need to empower them to chart their own course within the tech space.
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