I met a gentleman called Dele Odufuye a few weeks ago. As Seun Onigbinde introduced us, I had a vague sense that I should know him…but I came up blank. A few minutes later, I would find out that he was a winner in the first Future Awards, for best use of technology.
I’m glad I met Dele not just because he’s a Future Awards winner, or has a thriving technology company and is jeje making his pepper somewhere in Maryland. I’m glad I did because he strikes me as someone who is truly passionate about community and the ecosystem. Passionate enough to create a API Focus, a web-based repository for APIs built by Nigerian technology companies.
The platform is powered by Tsaboin, Dele’s company, and they’ll be organising regular events, online and offline to engage the rest of the ecosystem about the benefits of leveraging shared technologies and standards for the advancement of the ecosystem.
Why should Nigerian tech companies care about APIs? That is precisely the question Dele hopes the platform’s first event will help answer.
The web is no longer about links connecting one site to another. Instead, developers are using tools to connect data and functionality from one site to another site. It’s an incredible transformation that has happened over a very short period of time. APIs are at the heart of Google’s strategy and they led directly to the growth enjoyed by Twitter and Facebook. And one begins to wonder, why Nigerian websites, companies, startups, applications and services do not have APIs.
The first API Focus event will be happening tomorrow at Ikeja by 9am, and it promises to be an interesting interaction. In addition to Dele, Ade Atobatele (Gboza!), and Chuka Ofili (who’s working on something really exciting here) are coordinating. There will also be opportunities for some of Nigeria’s most agile startups to showcase their widgets and APIs.
The event is strictly by invitation, but there are a few seats left. More details and future developments are available at the API Focus website.
This post is about the API Focus event, but I feel sure that I’ll be talking about Dele and his company very soon.
UPDATE: Dele Odufuye wasn’t the first winner of best use of technology category for the Future Awards. Neither was that the first edition of TFA either. Dele tells me he is actually the third winner…and he won it again in 2009.
