Rose Foley meets IT entrepreneur Ademola Fazaz, who’s branching out into new territory with his trivia game website Quiz2own.net
Businessman Ademola Fazaz is happy to admit that he loves to work, particularly with computers.
“I’m an IT man,” he says. “My life is information technology.”
Fazaz’s love of computing led him last April to start Dealcity.ie, a Dublin-based online store with a storefront on Moore Street.
But now he’s branching out to other areas with his latest business endeavour, Quiz-2own.net: an online quiz that tests players’ knowledge and rewards winners with prizes.
“There should be a platform for a quiz company to reward people for excellence in their knowledge,” the native of Nigerian says.
To play on Quiz2own.net, users must purchase tickets costing €2 each, then proceed to answer a number of trivia questions as quickly as possible for a chance to win their chosen prize.
There are two prize categories: the first consisting of items such as game consoles and laptops, and the second including premium prizes such as holidays and college scholarships.
Other possible prizes are LCD televisions, instant winnings of €20 vouchers and 5-day Dublin Bus tickets. More prizes may be available at a later stage, says Fazaz.
With his experience in IT and based on the initial success of Dealcity.ie, Fazaz is confident the quiz website will quickly gain a foothold in the Irish market. Indeed, he says the site had 750 participants in its first week of operation.
He acknowledges that the economic recession presents challenges, but that the “considerate ticket price” is being offered to “make sure people can afford” to play. And he thinks there’s another advantage, too.
“People would play to win a laptop or a Wii instead of having to save, which is an advantage of the recession,” he says.
Quiz2own’s first winner, Sinéad of Celbridge, said she saw a demonstration of the website while shopping on Moore Street and, although sceptical, decided to play the quiz that night. The next day she was contacted by phone about her prize – a new Compaq laptop.
Publicity for Quiz2own has been mostly by word-of-mouth and handing out fliers in the city centre, but eventually the company expects to establish ticket stands in supermarkets.
Fazaz admits that one potential concern to his business is racial prejudice. He has been reluctant to have his photo taken because of fear of negative bias toward his ethnicity and the impact that may have on the business.
But that doesn’t stop him from working. His day consists of making sure the website’s server is running effectively and responding efficiently to e-mails sent from users of his site. And when Fazaz is not looking after his online businesses, he is a full-time computer repairman too. There’s no end to the work, but he’s not complaining.
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