Keith Ferguson, a Jamaica-born entrepreneur who now resides in the United Kingdom, has developed an electronic ticket and events system for partygoers everywhere.

Ferguson and his small team now own two apps; one for partygoers to easily find events and purchase e-tickets on their system and the other for event organisers to manage their advertised events. This app also allows the event organisers to scan tickets on entry to party venues and is available in both the iOS app and Google Play Store.

In a recent interview with The Gleaner, Ferguson said the system he has developed is configured to host events worldwide; however, there is 450-kilometre Geo IP fencing applied to events display. "What this means is, by default, events are shown within 450 kilometres of your location. Users can search a particular country or city for events," Ferguson said.

Currently, Party Ace is in discussions with Advanced Integrated Systems (AIS) to enable its website to accept Quisk payments (mobile money version 2). Party Ace is marketed within Europe, Jamaica and the UK, with the hope of kick-starting its US and Caribbean marketing three months hence.

With more than 5,000 customers since Party Ace began operations under a year ago, the innovative company serves as a symbol to aspiring entrepreneurs that opportunities are there to be explored and these can also create more jobs to the unemployed.

FUTURE OF TICKETS

"Party Ace represents the future as far as buying tickets is concerned. It will eliminate waiting in lines both to purchase tickets and cut down on waiting time to enter concert venues. Tickets also have a printable version that can be scanned for authenticity, even after they have been downloaded and printed by the purchaser," Ferguson said.

"With our secure promoter check-in app, available both on iOS and Android, promoters have the ability to scan barcodes and QR codes on presented tickets to validate their legitimacy," Ferguson added. Tickets can also be accessed on phones and the holder can show their phone at the gate and have it scanned there. The system also captures customer data for future communication.

Ferguson says Party Ace allows any promoter to assign a set number of tickets at a specific commission, to any user on their system for sharing web links to the ticket shop for their event. Every ticket sold as a result of a shared link will earn a commission for the rep.

The Kingston College past student got the idea for his company while living in Germany, where dancehall parties are huge. He combined his love for information technology and building computers with party promoting, and has now found a way to use his knowledge to benefit Caribbean countries.

"After getting the idea in 2009, I registered my business in 2014; we started to provide a place to advertise parties and where the users could filter through to find the parties closest to them - it was the go-to place for parties and events for promoters," he said.

Party Ace has evolved and it is now a safe place for users' money; they can manage their own refunds in the event of a cancellation as they will be notified immediately.

EXPANDING OPERATIONS

"In the nine months, we have handled more than 150 parties in the United Kingdom, United States, Belgium, Jamaica and St Vincent, and I am now heading into more Caribbean islands," Ferguson said.

Fees charged are either one US dollar, one pound sterling, one euro or J$150, or 10 per cent of the cost per ticket - whichever is greater.

Other benefits include customers being notified so that they never miss an event; they will get early-bird offers on tickets and seamless integration of your phone/tablets default calendar, and entertainment news.

For further information, visit: www.party-ace.com [3] or phone: (UK): +44 7455 013313/ +49 162 4896851; or Twitter: @Partyace.

To download the app for iOS devices: https://appsto.re/gb/YH2L4.i; [4] Android devices: http://bit.ly/1DGdbud [5].