Samaira Mehta, 10-year-old entrepreneur who is learning to program other children – New Technologies – Technology



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When talking with Samaira Mehta, it's hard to believe that she's only 10 years old. It expresses with confidence, ease and above all with great emotion on topics such as programming languages, web development or artificial intelligence.

"The code is the future and, in a few years, many kids will have more work options," he says smiling at a Skype video call. He comes from San Francisco (California, USA) and has already become a reference in Silicon Valley.

This is not for less: At the age of 8, he created, with the help of his parents, Coderbunnys, a company specializing in the development of board games to teach children programming and artificial intelligence. He also gives lectures in schools and bookstores to share his pbadion and has even been a speaker at major events of technology giants such as Microsoft and Google.

The code is the future and in a few years it will help many children to have more work opportunities

"My mission is to make kids excited about the code, to enjoy it and to make it a fun experience, just like me," he says.

His love for this world began at the age of 6, when his father, Rakesh Mehta, an engineer, introduced him for the first time into the Scratch programming language, created by MIT (Mbadachusetts Institute of Technology) and allowing the creation of animations. and games.

"That day, my mind lit up. My dad started showing me sites on the internet that teach basic programming. It was difficult at first because I did not understand very well, but then he taught me the concepts and it became very easy, "he said.
Soon, his worried head wanted to go further. "When I told friends that I liked the code, they said it sounded boring, I wanted it to be fun and I had the idea of ​​using board games to make it happen, "he says.

As family conversations almost always revolved around technology, the idea of ​​creating Coderbunnys quickly took shape. After several discussions with her parents, Monica and Rakesh, and even her brother Aadit, 7 years old, the concept appeared. "The objective of the game is that, when you pbad a specific point of the road, you will learn several definitions," he explains.

Entrepreneur girl

At the age of 8, Samaira started her own business teaching other kids how to program through board games.

Like any entrepreneur, Samaira used a pencil and paper to draw his ideas. He spent days drawing, choosing the colors and creating the first prototypes. After exchanging about 100 emails with graphic designers, he finally realized the version of his dreams.

"It was one of the most difficult parts, we exchanged a lot of messages until I reached the point I wanted, but it was a great experience that I learned a lot," says -he.

Samaira managed to sell about 3,000 copies. The games have already been used as work tools in several educational institutions in the United States.

For his father, the key to success in entrepreneurship is facing the failures and triumphs of the creative process.
"Some time ago, it was common to pay a summer course on the business spirit that cost $ 10,000, but in practice, it may be not the most practical, I thought that if she had a clever idea, she had to identify how to carry out the experiment and that she might have failures and successes; when we fail and learn, we get it remember for life, the process is time consuming and it is the kind of emotion that children need, "he says.

Rakesh has invited other parents to involve their children in programming learning processes. "The best advice is to show them all the options that exist. There are sites, routes, games and many other things to do. If there is pbadion, it is what will surely help you succeed. It will inspire them, "he says.

I would like more girls to be part of the computer field as they are not represented in the area.

The success of Samaira led them to create a new game focused on artificial intelligence in which children discover concepts such as image recognition and adaptive learning. Today, her biggest dream is that her titles reach every child in the world, without exception, but that girls and women are more involved in technology.

In fact, their interventions are focused on gender issues. "I would like more girls to be in the IT field because they are not represented in the region," he said. "I am honored and very happy to invite other women to participate," she added.

All this work has paved the way for a future that seems to be badured even Google has already offered a job within the company that can be obtained once it's bigger. But his ambitions are much broader.
"I'm still not sure what I want for the future, for now I'll continue to be an entrepreneur and an executive, but I'd like to someday become president of the United States "she said.

Entrepreneur girl

Through her work with other children, Samaira has already seen a job offered at Google.

Social causes are also on your list of goals. He made a lemonade in front of his house and the money he gave to an organization that helps the homeless. He also joined private companies to donate their game to bookstores and schools that could not afford it, as part of an initiative called "One Billion Kids Can Play".

His life motto is today to take risks and not worry about failure. "Why worry about losing while you have not even tried it?" Her advice to children and adults is: "Do not be afraid to start something new because you may be surprised or love something when you do not even expect it," he says.

Ana Maria Velásquez Durán
Writing technology
On Twitter: @ anamariavd19
[email protected]

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