When there’s a talk about what a kid achieved at the age of 13 one could say maybe he/she made a good school project, aced in exams or did well in sports… but what about something like teaching themselves engineering and building up a radio station to play music and broadcast news. Well, today it’s someone who did the same, Kelvin Doe from Sierra Leone.
Starting from zero
Kelvin Doe is a child prodigy born, in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on 26 October 1996. The youngest of five children of his parents, Doe comes from a small area in Freetown where a lack of electricity and water is common. Sometimes there is no electricity for weeks. At 10, he started collecting discarded devices, and scrap metal. He started creating something new from that garbage, and built transmitters and batteries from discarded pieces of scrap. He participated in GMin’s Innovate Salone idea competition and became a finalist; in which he built a generator from scrap metals.
An Inspiration to others
Doe is the best example of self-teaching and learning. He is famous for teaching himself engineering at the age of 13. When Doe became 15, he built a radio transmitter, three-channel mixer, and microphone receiver. It all helped him to create his community radio station in Sierra Leone. He names himself to the name “DJ Focus” where he used to broadcast news and play music.
In 2012 an educational YouTube channel THNKR captured his story in their video which attracted people’s attention. His story became viral in the whole world and then CNN, NBC News, and The Huffington Post covered his story. Seeing his story, David Sengeh who graduated from MIT helped him become one of the known African entrepreneurs. Kelvin won the top prize at Innovate Salone with his team.
The achievements in the way
Discussion of his achievement spread throughout the world. He was invited from the United States of America to participate in the “Visiting Practitioner’s Program” at MIT. At the age of 16, he became the youngest person in the world who got this achievement.
At Harvard, Doe became a lecturer of undergraduate engineering students and speaker at TEDxTeen. He signed a $100,000 solar solution project with a Canadian Wi-Fi company to develop and test the project in 2013.
In 2016 Doe became an honorary board member of Emergency USA which is a global non-profit. It provides free medical care for the people who are affected by war and poverty. With this achievement, he started his startup as KDoe-Tech and Kelvin Doe Foundation in 2016.
Present Life
In 2021, at the age of 23 Doe continues his study with his working engineering projects and businesses. He is one of the most respected young African inventors in today’s time. Kelvin also got the opportunity to meet the top leaders, and became the voice of the people of Afrika. Currently, he lives in Canada and continues his studies. It seems he is following his words,
‘The more I’m able to empower myself, the more I can do things that sustain the world as a whole’.
Also watch: Tanishq Abraham: 15 year old Engineer
Also read: Jacob Barnett, from diagnosed autistic to an IQ higher than Einstein
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