Reports have surfaced claiming that Tomisin Ogunnubi, a Nigerian tech prodigy, won $1 billion from the Rise Initiative with her app, beating 49,000 competitors.
However, Yinka Ogunnubi, Tomisin’s father, has debunked these claims, stating that his daughter won the Rise award in October 2021 at the age of 18, not 16 as reported.
Yinka Ogunnubi also clarified that the $1 billion was a pledge by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt and his wife Wendy to identify and support 100 global talents annually, and Tomisin was among the first 100 teenagers selected.
While Tomisin did create a tracking app at the age of 12, it was not the reason she won the Rise award, which was also won by five other Nigerian teenagers.
The six teenagers went on to organize a workshop to help other Nigerian kids apply for and win future Rise awards as a way of giving back.
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