Q&A: Pakistani twins are youngest ever Microsoft Power Platform Certified professionals

• Ten-year-olds Zara and Zenubia Khan pursued the certification while locked down in Singapore due to the pandemic
• The sisters don’t know if a career in tech awaits them in the future but hope to contribute “positively” to society in whatever they do

RAWALPINDI: Twin sisters Zara and Zenubia Khan kicked off the new year by putting Pakistan in the global spotlight, becoming the world's youngest ever Microsoft Power Platform Certified professionals.
The certification is awarded for mastering the fundamentals of Microsoft’s Power Suite, a bevy of programs used by individuals and businesses to create solutions for businesses, make simple apps, and even design chatbots.
The Khans, 10, are the youngest yet to achieve the certification and the youngest pair of twins to do so. Before them, a Pakistan student and computer prodigy Arfa Karim became the world's youngest Microsoft Certified Professional in 2004. Karim suffered a cardiac arrest after an epileptic seizure on 22 December 2011. She passed away in a hospital in Lahore on January 14, 2012, aged 16.
Pakistan's largest Information and Communications Technology Park located in Lahore, the first international standard facility in the country, is named after Karim: The Arfa Software Technology Park.
In a video interview on Thursday, the eighth anniversary of Karim’s death, the Khan sisters told Arab News they were “happy” to have made their parents and country proud.
The Khans moved to Singapore last year right before the coronavirus pandemic hit and lockdowns were imposed. Their parents, including their father Adeel Khan who works in the tech industry, encouraged them to spend their time indoors by trying to bag the Microsoft certification.
Adeel said after making their record, the twins had received appreciation from around the world this month, which had motivated them to strive to do even better.
When asked whether a career in tech awaited them in the future, the girls laughed and said they weren’t sure at ten years of age where life would take them. But Zenuubia added: “Whatever field we chose, we hope to contribute positively to society."