Alabama Math Whiz, 9, Launches Web Business

April 5, 2011— -- Silicon Valley superstars, you'd better watch out. Your next big competitor might not be a college drop-out, but a grade school whiz kid.

Last month, nine-year-old Maggie Huang of Florence, Alabama, started her very own business. And it wasn't a lemonade stand or cookie table set up outside her house, but a Web start-up called SmartMaggie.com.

"It's about business stuff and you can post problems on it," she said. "[Visitors] can ask about a general business problem ? installing [Microsoft] Access questions and mathematics questions. Stuff like that."

Want some help tackling Microsoft Office's database software? Or building your own website? Or even answering basic math questions? Maybe Maggie can help.

So far, the young site hasn't attracted too much attention and, for now, Maggie said she'll answer questions for free. But she said she'll consider charging customers for services once the business takes off.

"I just, like, make websites and web design [and] create databases and then they pay me," she said.

Like your average fourth grader, Maggie said she likes to play soccer, watch the Disney channel and read (her favorite book is Lemony Snicket's "A Series of Unfortunate Events"). But when it comes to math, the young entrepreneur is hardly average at all.

Yingping Huang, Maggie's father and associate professor of computer information systems at the University of North Alabama, said she first showed her talent as a toddler.

At three, he said, she figured out how to multiply 7 times 7 by counting it all out in her head.

"She amazed me," he said.

Since then, he's supplemented her school lessons with his own instruction, including some college-level math.