PAUL ARHEWE 23/03/2011 00:39:00
Recently Forbes International released the list of world most richest people, of which two Nigerians AlikoDangote and Mike Adenuga emerged the 51st and 595th respectively। One of the profiles of these wealthy personalities that fascinate me most is that of Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest of these billionaires, occupying the 52nd position next to Dangote with a fortune of $13।5 billion। It may surprise many of us who don’t know that 26-year-old Zuckerberg, is the founder and CEO of the popular social–networking site, Facebook, that both old and young people are passionate about.
Also, the young man dropped out of Harvard University in 2004 to pursue his idea of creating Facebook and drove it into a big achievement just like the world’s second richest man, Bill Gates, took। The young Zuckerberg started using and writing computer software at his infant age while still in primary school. His father, who is also vast in computer programming taught this American whizkid basic computer programming and later hired an expert tutor to coach him into the software guru he is. David Newman who mentored Zuckerberg said he is a ‘prodigy’; he always stayed ahead of what he wanted to teach him. He actually started the idea of building a networking website during his school days in Harvard. Then, as fun, he created ‘Course- Match’ and ‘Facemash’ that allowed students to form study groups and upload photos to interact. In Harvard, students have what they call Face Books, which contain names and pictures of every student in the different dormitories. Zuckerberg using these books, he created a site where he intermittently uploaded pictures of two males and two females, and the rest of the students would vote to choose the couple that is hotter. The site became very famous that it overwhelmed the server in Harvard within few days of its launch, which made the school sites inaccessible to students for their academic works. The school authorities have to pull down the site, amidst complaints that students pictures were been used without their permission. Zuckerberg was however not relenting on that instant obstacle. The massive demands by Harvard students for site similar to proscribed Zuckerberg’s site propelled him to forge ahead in building a more sophisticated one, which materialised in the launch of Facebook in February 4, 2004. It is painful, seeing many of our youths in this part of the world wasting precious time in committing cyber crimes, and many idle, but discuss round-the-clock foreign football leagues that would never fetch them one naira. Yahoo-yahoo boys are everyday devising clever schemes in hoodwinking their ‘Mugus’. It would be of immense societal benefit if such brilliant brains are utilised in bringing about positive ideas like Zuckerberg. The whiz-kid had the option of hacking banks and financial institutions websites, and would have smoothly and successfully become enriched as a genius, through this negative means, but chose a more legitimate course. In 2004 he had no car, no house no job, but turned down billion- dollar offers from big corporations begging to buy over his cherished Facebook idea. No wonder he was named TIME magazine’s ‘person of the year’ in 2010. Though, in the western world children are motivated at an early stage in developing their potentials, which goes a long way in making them useful assets to their society, even as early as adolescent. This is a cue to our government and parents need to adopt. With the aid of parents, children should be encouraged to pursue talents they show penchant for and be encouraged at the primary level to study along this identified path until their tertiary education. That is why our government should be encouraged to continue to allocate more funds for the education sector. It is never too much to invest in a child’s education; the future gain is monumental compared to what is expended.
Also, the young man dropped out of Harvard University in 2004 to pursue his idea of creating Facebook and drove it into a big achievement just like the world’s second richest man, Bill Gates, took। The young Zuckerberg started using and writing computer software at his infant age while still in primary school. His father, who is also vast in computer programming taught this American whizkid basic computer programming and later hired an expert tutor to coach him into the software guru he is. David Newman who mentored Zuckerberg said he is a ‘prodigy’; he always stayed ahead of what he wanted to teach him. He actually started the idea of building a networking website during his school days in Harvard. Then, as fun, he created ‘Course- Match’ and ‘Facemash’ that allowed students to form study groups and upload photos to interact. In Harvard, students have what they call Face Books, which contain names and pictures of every student in the different dormitories. Zuckerberg using these books, he created a site where he intermittently uploaded pictures of two males and two females, and the rest of the students would vote to choose the couple that is hotter. The site became very famous that it overwhelmed the server in Harvard within few days of its launch, which made the school sites inaccessible to students for their academic works. The school authorities have to pull down the site, amidst complaints that students pictures were been used without their permission. Zuckerberg was however not relenting on that instant obstacle. The massive demands by Harvard students for site similar to proscribed Zuckerberg’s site propelled him to forge ahead in building a more sophisticated one, which materialised in the launch of Facebook in February 4, 2004. It is painful, seeing many of our youths in this part of the world wasting precious time in committing cyber crimes, and many idle, but discuss round-the-clock foreign football leagues that would never fetch them one naira. Yahoo-yahoo boys are everyday devising clever schemes in hoodwinking their ‘Mugus’. It would be of immense societal benefit if such brilliant brains are utilised in bringing about positive ideas like Zuckerberg. The whiz-kid had the option of hacking banks and financial institutions websites, and would have smoothly and successfully become enriched as a genius, through this negative means, but chose a more legitimate course. In 2004 he had no car, no house no job, but turned down billion- dollar offers from big corporations begging to buy over his cherished Facebook idea. No wonder he was named TIME magazine’s ‘person of the year’ in 2010. Though, in the western world children are motivated at an early stage in developing their potentials, which goes a long way in making them useful assets to their society, even as early as adolescent. This is a cue to our government and parents need to adopt. With the aid of parents, children should be encouraged to pursue talents they show penchant for and be encouraged at the primary level to study along this identified path until their tertiary education. That is why our government should be encouraged to continue to allocate more funds for the education sector. It is never too much to invest in a child’s education; the future gain is monumental compared to what is expended.
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