This 8-Year-Old Could Be The Next Steve Jobs

Think back, if you can, to what you were doing when you were just eight years old.

Were you creating award-winning apps? It seems unlikely, and not just because apps probably weren’t a thing when you were eight.

It would take a pretty prodigious primary-schooler to imagine up and execute an application for smartphones at such a young age.

However, that’s precisely what has been managed by Anvitha Vijay of Glen Waverley in Melbourne.

The Year 3 student is the inventor of the motivational GoalsHi app, which allows primary school students to set and visualise goals.

Her mother, Buvana, a business advisor at IBM, said the idea came when Anvitha wanted greater accountability for her chores.

“I would highlight things she would need to do around the house. At the end of the day, they might get done, they might not. If you wrote it on a piece of paper, the paper might get lost. We started using stickers as rewards, but the stickers would get lost," Buvana said.

“Anvitha thought, ‘why don’t we put this into the iPhone and iPad instead?’”

With that, GoalsHi was born, allowing kids to add tasks under categories like Health, Chores, Sport and Dance. For instance, under Health, one might set goals of “drinking 8 glasses of water a day” or “eating a whole plate of vegetables.” With every goal achieved, the user is rewarded with points or an animated star. Parents can also track their child’s progress on the App.

Anvitha took GoalsHi to the OzApp Awards in February, where she won the Student Edge $10,000 Media Kit prize for her innovations.

Though GoalsHi is still a few months away from being officially launched, Anvitha is not content to rest on her laurels. A version for teenagers and adults is on the cards for the future.

“Anvitha really likes Steve Jobs and the way he does things,” she said.

“She wants to be an entrepreneur – like a top entrepreneur,” Buvana laughed. “That might be a few more years down the road, but she wants to do that.”

An earlier version of this article incorrectly listed Anvitha's age as seven. Student Edge regrets the error.