UNDER THE RADAR: GAVIN DUNNE, ZUMPTY.IE: THE verb "to google" was included in the O xford English Dictionaryfor the first time back in 2006. If Gavin Dunne has his way, the next technical term to graduate from jargon to everyday use will be "to zumpty".
While he is not quite sure of the origin of the word – his business partner, Darren Greenan, came up with it in what Dunne describes as “one of those lightbulb moments” – he is absolutely sure of what its meaning will be: to search for services.
Dunne and Greenan launched Zumpty.ie last month with the aim of connecting small and medium businesses with customers looking for their services. Customers put their requirements out to tender on the website and businesses compete for it by e-mail or text.
“I want ‘to zumpty’ to become the verb used by everyone looking for a service,” declares Dunne. “Just as you google something when you’re looking for information about it, when you’re looking for a service, no matter what it is, you’ll zumpty it.”
If that sounds like a big ask, that’s nothing new to Dunne – who at just 27 can reasonably be described as a serial entrepreneur. In 2001, aged 21, he set up his first company, Clear Solutions Telecom, which he sold at the end of the following year to WorldCom.
Taking a holiday in Australia to celebrate the sale, he ended up setting up a business there selling in-taxi advertising, which he also sold within a year.
He’s in the Philippines where he’s in the process of building 181 luxury apartments on the tropical Boracay Island, one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations, 300km south of Manila. His partner in that project is hotelier Greg Sanson.
“Construction has been under way since last November. Luckily, we had quite a few units sold before the downturn hit. Still, the last six months have been slow, so we may possibly reduce the total number of units. Buyers have been British, Dutch and Swedish . . . but nobody Irish, a sign of the times.”
Unlike the property business, Dunne believes that Zumpty.ie will thrive in these recessionary times, quoting a survey from the Small Firms Association which forecasts that as many as 50 per cent of smaller businesses will restructure, scale down or close in the next three months.
“Businesses are finding themselves under huge pressure, but they can’t afford simply to sit back and do nothing. They have to market themselves and compete for what’s there. They can do that on Zumpty.ie for a fraction of traditional costs; the price point is excellent. On the technical side of things, we’ve also kept the website extremely user-friendly, so that it’s accessible to everyone.
“At the same time, many of the people losing their jobs at the moment are setting up on their own and need some cost-effective way to let customers know they’re out there.
“Using Zumpty.ie, they can quote for every job that suits them; they can quote at 50 per cent cheaper than the competition if they’re trying to get a business started and through our rating system, they can develop a five-star reputation for quality and reliability.
“Essentially, they can build their own brand.”
Dunne’s strategy for getting businesses to use Zumpty.ie is to contact industry representative associations – such as the Construction Industry Federation, for instance – and offer special package deals, including one that features a webpage designed for the business.
“After that, it’s a matter of familiarity. I believe that once they get used to the concept, businesses will see the benefit and realise that in price terms, it makes a lot of sense. Ultimately, I’d like every single business in the country to be on the site – though maybe I should be more realistic and say 99 per cent.”
