David Opateyibo is only 20-years old, but is already making international headlines for his ability to create and develop his very own drones.
Born and raised in Nigeria, as a young person, David was always passionate about technology and more specifically aircrafts. He started out creating airplanes from paper, cardboard, and other readily available materials. This led him to enroll in the International College of Aeronautics, Lagos Nigeria for aircraft building technology (ABT) in the year 2015.
He was so advanced that he was invited to also become an instructor while still studying.
In the year 2017, David was recognized for building a drone from scratch and presenting it to the State governor at that time.
Later, he obtained his remote pilot license (RPL) at the age of 19 in the United States of America under the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and became an active member of the Nigeria Unmanned Systems and Robotics Association (NUSA).
In 2018, after completing a 2 year diploma in Applied Aviation Science, he led a team of 5 students of the International College of Aeronautics in building an all metal 2 seat airplane: the Zenith CH 750 Short Takeoff and Landing (STOL) at the Zenith Aircraft Building Company in Missouri.
A real entrepreneur
Nowadays, David is works as a freelancer for various organizations to provide top notch drone services and products.
He believes that drone technology is where the future lies because drones are being used to carry out tasks that previously only manned aircrafts where known to do - ranging from military to civilian uses.
He comments, "We are in the era of data science, artificial intelligence (AI) and the internet of things (IOT), and with these, we cannot but fathom what the future will bring drones are not going anywhere any time soon."
When David is not working on drones, he spends his time building and flying radio controlled models for fun, helping students with their robotic projects, playing the keyboard and providing different digital services such as writing sales copies for various business products and niches.
Be sure to follow David on social media on Facebook and Instagram