Kids are undeniably special gifts. They become even more fascinating when they display exceptional gifts from a tender age.
Such exceptionally gifted kids are also referred to as geniuses, prodigies’ or wunderkind (from German Wunderkind; literally “wonder child”) for possessing unusual talents and gaining early mastery of subjects, arts, or skills.
Over the years, we’ve seen child prodigies show talents in diverse fields like maths, art, sports, innovation, games, language, music, and several others.
Below are a number of Africa ‘wunderkinds’ you should know about;
Joshua Beckford (Nigeria)
At the age of 6, Nigerian Genius, Joshua Beckford became the youngest person with autism to enroll at Oxford University. At 14, he became the youngest person to graduate with distinctions in Philosophy and History. At 2, he could read so well. He plans to become a Neurosurgeon.
Emmanuella Mayaki (Nigeria)
At the age of 10, Nigerian Genius, Emmanuella Mayaki was hired as a Coding Instructor by a UK school in 2019. She learnt web design and analysis aged 7. Had diplomas at 9. She is an expert in HTML, CSS, JavaScript, JQuery, WordPress, PHP, MySQL, Graphic Design, Java, and Python.
Emmanuella Mayaki has a Google app called Emma’s ICT Academy. She was featured on BBC’s “My Life” series. It was aired to celebrate International Women’s Day on the CBBC channel in 2021. She launched CodeKid, a weekend and holiday coding club for girls aged 6 – 15 in Abuja.
Chika Ofili (Nigeria)
Nigerian Chika Ofili discovered a new Math formula at the age of 12 in 2019. He found a new way to test if a number can be divided by the number 7, while doing his homework. He won a TruLittle Hero Award in 2019.
South Africa’s 3-year-old Prodigy, Lethukthula Bhengu can speak fluently and write. She speaks two languages. She is positively influencing other kids. She has a YouTube channel called Lethu TV.
Elias Mothomi Gitonga (Kenya)
Five-year-old Mothomi possesses a rare reading ability skill. He was brought into the limelight when he won an international award for a competition that required children under the age of 15 from 68 countries across the globe to record a video doing what they were good at to prove their intelligence.
Highly passionate about planes and helicopters, Elias can tell 16 different helicopters, their different parts and their uses.
This gift of unusual intelligence was discovered by his parents when he was a year old, as he could read things on TV and words in newspapers without any form of initial learning. At that age, most kids are just grasping the sounds they hear to be able to construct them into words.
In 2019, his passion for aviation caught the attention of the military, which invited him to its Eastleigh military airstrip to learn more about helicopters. He has been hosted at Kenyatta University, and he is a Global Child Prodigy awardee.
Oraltiwe ‘AJ’ Hlongwane (South Africa)
Oraltiwe, 10, whose stage name is DJ Arch, started music production at age 1. He is one of the world’s youngest DJs and has played at concerts, private shows, and festivals in several countries, including Spain, Botswana, and Saudi Arabia. He has also appeared on many Got Talent shows like South Africa’s Got Talent, Britain’s Got Talent, China’s Got Talent, America’s Got Talent, & Saudi Arabia’s Got Talent.
He has many feathers on his cap, including being a Guinness Book Of World Records holder as the world’s youngest DJ when he was 3-year-old, a Global Child Prodigee awardee, and a South Africa’s Got Talent winner.
Lethukuthula Bhengu (South Africa)
South Africa’s 3-year-old Prodigy, Lethukuthula Bhengu can speak fluently and write. She speaks two languages. She is positively influencing other kids. She has a YouTube channel called Lethu TV.
In 2022, Lethu made the news for being able to read and write. She won the 2023 Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award for Favourite African Kidfluencer at the age of 3.
Simthandile Tshabalala (South Africa)
At the age of 7, South Africa’s Simthandile Tshabalala aka “Sim Tiger” won the 2019 USA Kids Golf Championship. He was the world’s 7th best Golfer in his age category in 2020. At age 8, he had won over 20 championships. He learnt how to play golf on YouTube.
Simthandile Tshabalala received the Sports Minister’s Excellence Award at the 2019 South African Sports Awards. He came in second place in the 2020 Australian Junior Open Golf Championship. South Africa’s President Ramaphosa described him as “South Africa’s future Tiger Woods”.
William Kamkwamba (Malawi)
At age 13, Malawi’s William Kamkwamba provided electricity for his village with windmills built from scrap materials in 2001. He dropped out of school over failure to pay fees, and read a library book about windmills. He built a water pump and 2 wind turbines in his village.
Naledi Marape (Bostwana)
Botswana’s Naledi Marape became Africa’s highest-ranked Under 12 female Chess Player at age 11 in 2017. She became Botswana’s youngest-ever Woman FIDE Master at age 11, and Woman Candidate Master at age 9 in 2015. She won the Youth India at 75 Chess Tournament in February 2023.
Naledi Marape won the Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year Award at the 2022 Botswana Sports Awards. She received a $5,633 cash prize. She won Female Junior Sportsperson of the Year in 2018. She won Gold in the U-16 Girls Category at the 2021 African Youth Chess Championships.
At the age of 11, Naledi Marape won Gold in the U-13 Girls’ Category at the 2017 African Schools Individuals Chess Championships in Zimbabwe. At age 9, she won Silver and Bronze at the 2015 African Youth Chess Championships in Zambia. She won Silver in the U-10 Girls category.
Sheilah Sheldone (Kenya)
Sheila Sheldone is just 11 years old, but her influence on the art world cannot be underrated. She is a multi-talented prodigy who discovered her love for art when she was five. Now a great painter, model, singer, poet and fashion designer whose work has adorned the president of Kenya, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta.
She is the recipient of the award for Youngest Lioness of 2018 from the Tese Foundation, the 2021 Nina Simone Artistic Excellence Honoree, and a Global Child Prodigy Award winner.
Sheldone wishes to impact the lives of children suffering from neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) in her community through creative work. So she started an initiative called Sheilah Sheldone Arts for Social Change CBO. To Sheldone, everyone is a child prodigy, but only a few like her have been found.
Esther Okade (Nigeria)
17-year-old Nigerian Math Genius, Esther Okade is bagging a PhD in Financial Mathematics.
She entered the Open University in the UK at the age of 10 in 2015. At the age of 6, she passed GCSE exams usually taken by 14-16-year-olds in the UK. She wrote math workbooks at age 10.
The Imafidons (Nigeria)
Nigeria’s Imafidon Family is the UK’s smartest family. Peter and Paula were the youngest kids in UK Secondary Schools at age 9. They passed Cambridge Advanced Math Exams at 6. Christina was the UK’s youngest university student at age 11. Anne-Marie spoke 6 languages at age 10.
Anne-Marie Imafidon graduated from Secondary School at the age of 10. She bagged her Master’s Degree at the age of 19.
Samantha Imafidon entered secondary school girl at the age of 9. She was the UK’s youngest UK Secondary School at the time.
