Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe, a Zimbabwean, made history in 2017 when she became the youngest person on the African continent to earn a PhD at 23 years old.
Recently, she broke the glass ceiling again when she became an associate professor at the University of Johannesburg.
Musawenkosi, raised in Botswana, started pursuing her Bachelor of Commerce degree from North-West University at 16 and graduated with distinction at 19.
She received her honour’s and master’s degrees from NWU at 20 and 21, respectively. Musawenkosi was 23 years old in 2017 when she obtained her Doctor of Philosophy in Industrial and Organisational Psychology from NWU.
Since then, she has started working in the academic field. She was a postdoctoral research fellow at the North-West University in 2017 before becoming a senior lecturer at the University of the Free State of Bloemfontein in 2019.
In 2021, Musawenkosi Donia Saurombe started working as a senior lecturer at the University of Johannesburg. Most recently, the university has promoted Musawenkosi, now 29 years old, to associate professor.
In a LinkedIn post, her friend Tutu Kgobane celebrated her achievement and wrote, “Congratulations, my sister. The youngest PhD graduate in Africa has now been appointed as a professor. Prof Musa! So proud of her.”
REPORTERS AT LARGE earlier reported that Ruth Ama Gyan-Darkwa made headlines in 2017. She was adjudged the youngest to gain admission into the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana, to study mathematics at 13 in 2017.
In December 2021, she graduated from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) with a degree in mathematics.
The female prodigy has chalked up another feat two years after her first degree. She became the youngest Master/PhD graduate student at the University of New Mexico at 18.
