Anne-Marie Imafidon (full name Anne-Marie Osawemwenze Ore-Ofe) Imafidon, 27, British-Nigerian computing, mathematics and language child prodigy has received an MBE, Member of the Order of the British Empire on May 19, for her work inspiring the next generation of women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). “It’s a pat on the back from the wider society. There has been lots of change in the IT industry, and a lot of companies are looking inwards still,” she tells We Are The City.

“It’s a pat on the back from the wider society. There has been lots of change in the IT industry, and a lot of companies are looking inwards still,” she tells We Are The City.

“But women in STEM is a wider problem that affects everyone so I’m pleased it has been recognised as this has previously not been included on the honours list. STEM has been included before, but not girls in STEM. I was so surprised that someone entered a nomination for me. It’s crazy to think that someone thought I deserved it.

“It is humbling and overwhelming because I am much younger than the others on the list and on previous lists. At only 27 to be recognised at this age is insane.

The CEO of Stemettes, a social enterprise that organises events encouraging girls and women to embrace STEM has attracted more than 14,000 people in the UK and Ireland alone and she was named on the UK New Year’s Honours List.

Anne-Marie Imafidon has also Co-Founded Outbox Incubator: the world’s first tech incubator for teenage girls. She sits on the boards of Redfield Asset Management, Urban Development Music Foundation and Inspirational YOU. She has previously worked at Goldman Sachs, Hewlett-Packard, Deutsche Bank and Lehman Brothers.

She was also named the UK IT Industry & British Computer Society’s Young IT Professional of the Year in 2013, Red Magazine’s ‘Woman to Watch’ 2014, won a Points of Light award from the UK Prime Minister in October 2014 and was named the 29th Most Influential woman in IT in 2015. Anne-Marie has also been listed as one of Management Today’s 35 Under 35 and was on the Timewise List of 50 Power Part Timers.

As a child, Anne-Marie passed two GCSE Examinations (in Mathematics and Information technology) at the age of 11,  she could speak six languages by the age of 10. At the Lyceum Institute of Technology in East Ham, London,  she became the youngest person ever to obtain a qualification in Information Technology. At age 10 she won a scholarship to the private School St Joseph’s Convent School in Reading, a year younger than usual. At 13, in 2003, she received a British scholarship to study mathematics at Johns Hopkins University. At 15, in 2005, she was admitted a degree program by the University of Oxford. At 17, she started a master’s degree at Oxford University and, at 19 in June 2010, she became the youngest ever graduate with a master’s degree.

Rachel Ogbu

UK Based Strategic, multidisciplinary Writer with an eye for innovation and pixel perfection. MA in New Media and Internet Technologies. “Although my skill set is vast, my greatest expertise revolve in the worlds of social media, content creation and print collateral. My wish is to combine my knowledge and experience in these areas, to deliver the best creative to my employer’s clients and their audiences.”