13-year-old CEO graces Sharjah event

Thirteen-year-old CEO of Dubai-based software company Trinet Solutions Aadithyan Rajesh has paid a visit to the Sharjah Children’s Reading Festival (SCRF 2019)’s, which opened doors on Wednesday.

The UAE resident, hailing from the coastal Indian state of Kerala, and the first child prodigy on SCRF 2019’s Creative Kids Café stage, Rajesh, had no qualms admitting that partly the reason why he has been so successful in software development is because he came into the world when the tech revolution was well on its way. “I was born into this. The previous generations have had to learn how to use these technologies, while I took to them quite naturally.”

The young coder’s curiosity was ignited at the age of five when he came across a BBC website. Since, there’s been no looking back for this full-time school student and part-time coder, who has designed plenty of websites for big corporations and has created mobile applications on travel and education to make daily living easier.

“I recently developed a website for a construction company. I have just begun work on a blood donation app. In India, my country, there are thousands in need of this lifesaving service, and I hope one day my application will help them.”

When asked about what ignited this keenness in the tech world, his response was: “The pleasure of learning, I’d say. I wanted to learn more about how technology works. For instance, whenever I am faced by a programming error, I am not frustrated. In fact, I am motivated to debug the errors and find solutions, which continue to inspire me to develop myself further in this field.”

He tried to demystify the complexity that is attached to the world of coding, machine learning and artificial intelligence, telling his peers in the audience, “It’s just a piece of programme, and you have complete independence on how you want to treat it. You need to push boundaries, and be creative.”

The Creative Kids Café is a unique platform introduced by SCRF that will host many more young geniuses in science and technology, and literature and creative fields to allow them an opportunity to interact with the thousands of young visitors who will be walking through the gates of the festival not just looking for books, but creative inspiration from role models their age.   

The 11-day cultural extravaganza for children and young adults is being held at Expo Centre Sharjah, from April 17–27, under the theme ‘Discover Knowledge’.