There are few names that come to mind when you think of Nigerian web masters who have built international sites or have international acclaim. Apart from Dare Obasanjo, who works for microsoft and blogs [Carnage4Life], the name that comes to mind is Oo Nwoye of OnePage.

Recently, Oo Nwoye posted on facebook that the founder and CEO of popular Silicon Valley start up, Formspring.me, is Nigerian. It was a shock to me as well as an inspiration. So, I did some little research and found out that, He was actually born and brought up in Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria. He left the shores of Nigeria when he was 9 years old. He is 31 years old at the moment.

Formspring.me is a social networking site where people ask and answer questions. Here are some answers Ade posted on his account:

Yeah, my father was Nigerian and my mother American. I was born in the US, spent most of my childhood in Nigeria, then moved to Indianapolis when I was 11. I lived in and around Indianapolis until moving out to the SF Bay Area earlier this year.

“Formspring grew out of another company called Formstack, which creates online forms used by companies and organizations that want to get to know their users and customers better.

Back in the Summer of 2009, we noticed that bloggers were beginning to use Formstack’s forms to let their readers ask them questions. Pretty soon, tens of thousands of people were using our forms to share information, insights and learn about one another.

We took note and realized that people were desperate for a new way to connect and learn about each other. With this in mind, we launched Formspring.me in November 2009.”

This news is really refreshing and inspiring. What do you think of a Nigerian conquering Silicon Valley?

Ade Olonoh can be found on Facebook and on Formspring.

PS: I sent him a question on Formspring, we just might have an interview! Fingers crossed.