We continue our series where we seek to trace the paths of some of West Africa's most talented individuals over the last thirty five years. What has happened to them? What contributions have they made? To the world at large? To their native West Africa? Is early academic achievement (for this will be our sole selector) a reliable predictor for later success? What differences can be identified in outcomes between the 'early' scholars (say before 2000) and the later scholars (after 2000)? For example, are later scholars more likely to be working in their native country or region? What differences can be identified in outcomes between the different nationalities? For example, do the brightest Ghanaians achieve more success than the brightest Nigerians in later life? What do we mean by "success"? What professions have these individuals pursued? Have they worked predominantly in the STEM areas that development experts tell us are critical for developing countries or have their talents gone elsewhere? And which fields within STEM are most popular? What about gender? What effect does it have on outcomes among this category? Do the brightest girls do as well as the brightest boys in later life? What about the educational systems in the various countries? Can we glean anything about this from our results? We hope to at least begin the answers to these questions during the course of the series.

As our selector we use the results of the West African Examinations Council, WAEC, school leaving examination. Since 1985, WAEC has awarded prizes to the top three candidates in this exam. We shall attempt to trace the progress of these individuals using only publicly available information. No doubt, in some cases, despite our best efforts we will be unable to identify individuals or we will misidentify individuals, but through careful examination of the available evidence we should be able to glean accurate enough information to be able to form a reasonable overall picture. We will remain open to correction by our readers throughout the series. The "VERIFICATION" entry for each listing below indicates the criteria used to determine, or at least infer, that the individual whose details we have pulled from the public (internet) record was indeed the individual of the same name who excelled in the WAEC examination. A first name and last name match is a prerequisite.

WAEC, of course, conducts examinations only in English-speaking West Africa, so this series is necessarily limited to these areas. Before 1998 GCE 'A' and 'O' level examinations were conducted by WAEC, and it appears the top three candidates were in most if not all years selected for award from the 'O' level list.  In 1998, a new examination, the WASSCE, was introduced and quickly replaced the earlier school-leaving examinations.

We continue with the the fifteen award winners between 2012 and 2016. Some have not completed their studies yet, but still provide relevant data with regards to nationality, gender, high school at WASSCE, university course of study and location. This will be the last set of award winners in this series. Our next article will be a comprehensive analysis of the data over the 30 year period surveyed.


2012:


Yvette Yeboah-Kordieh: University of Ghana Medical School, 2012 - 2018, Physician, Korle-Bu Teaching Hospital, Ghana. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page

Josbert Abaasa Ayambire: Final year student (2018) University of Ghana Medical School VERIFICATION: Twitter, Linked-In

Bright Seyram Tsevi: KNUST, B.Sc., Electrical Engineering, 2016. Engineer Automation Solutions, Ghana, 2017 - 2019, Currently M.Sc. student, Norfolk State University, USA. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page


2013:


Ivy Mannoh: Bachelor's degree, Biomedical/ Medical engineering, Columbia University, New York, 2014-2018, Masters degree Biomedical/Medical engineering, University of Rochester, New York, 2018-2019. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page, university websites

Rhoda Adu-Boafo:  University of Ghana Medical School, 2013 - 2019, MD. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page, University of Ghana web site, picpanzee

Mwinmaarong Dery: B.S., Physics, Stanford University, California, 2013 -2107. M.S., Computer Science, Stanford University, 2016 - 2017, Research Assistant, SLAC National Laboratory, California, 2016 - present. 7 peer-reviewed joint research papers. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page, Researchgate, Googlescholar


2014:


Hasan Michail: No information found

Kenyah Blaykyi: ongoing BA program, Political Economy, Princeton University, New Jersey

Archibald Enninful Henry: Ongoing B.S., biomedical engineering, 2016 - 2020, Yale University, USA, co-founder Young Achievers Foundation Ghana funded by Wesleyan University. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page, Wesleyan University web page.





2015:


Jessica Ayeley Quaye: Ongoing B.S., Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 2016 - 2020, MIT, USA. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page, MIT webpage

Ruth Ewura-Ama Awadzi: Ongoing M.D. University of Ghana Medical School, 2015 - 2021, VERIFICATION: Facebook page, Trialect webpage

Danielle Amo-Mensah: Ongoing M.D. University of Ghana Medical School, Not verified.

2016:


Pius Kyere: Ongoing M.D. Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. Not verified

Ayodeji Oluwafisayomi: Ongoing student, United World College, Italy, Not verified

Benjamin Bortey Sango: Ongoing B.A., Economics and Chemistry, Columbia University (2018 - 2022), USA. VERIFICATION: Linked-In page, Facebook page, Columbia Spectator web page.


  2012- 2016 SUMMARY
(For nationality (WASSCE location) and percent contributing to the written public record, figures are percentages of the total (15). For other categories, figures are percentages of the total identified in that category)

By Nationality:                                                                             Nigeria - 7%, Ghana - 93%
By Gender:                                                                                    Male - 60%  Female - 40% (6/15)
Percentage achieving at least first degree:                                 100% (5/5) 9 ongoing students
Percentage achieving graduate degree:                                        80% (4/5) Remaining one in Masters program
Attained or attempting first degree in West Africa:                     50% (6/12)
Percentage working or studying in Stem:                                    92% (11/12)
Percentage currently living in West Africa:                                 36% (4/11)
Percentage whose career has been centered in West Africa:     Not Applicable -ongoing students or very recent graduates    
Books published:                                                                            0
Peer-reviewed research articles:                                                   7 (joint)
Patents:                                                                                           0
Other professional articles:                                                            0
Percent contributing to written public record                                7% (1/15)      *Book or article or patent

Ghanaian nationals are dominant in this time period. Women, although falling back somewhat from the previous time period continue to put up a strong showing. Medicine and engineering are the most popular fields of study.