Mr Faase, 21, might have to share some of the credit with fiancee Sarah Hall since it was their engagement on Valentine's Day that sparked the lightbulb moment.

``Neither of us have lived out of home before so when we became engaged we thought we should organise a gift registry to cut down on double-ups,'' he said.

``I looked online to find a free registry site and there was nothing there so I decided to make one myself.''

Mr Faase had the skills to do just that, having run his own web design business, Digerati Solutions, since he left school three years ago.

``The business started as a technology and design assignment that just took off,'' he said.

``Now I employ three guys.''

The new website has just hit 500 registries from 20 different countries and Mr Faase is hoping it will be equally successful.

The idea, like all great ideas, is a simple one.

Instead of going to a particular shop and registering a list of their items, people create their own list and post it on the website, which allows each list to be personalised

in terms of design and presentation.

``People can be as specific or as loose in their requests as they like,'' Mr Faase said.

``You can give the barcode number of a particular item from a particular shop or list something as general as a blanket.

``One really popular trend we've noticed is people sponsoring a particular part of the honeymoon, like if the couple were going to New York, someone would pay for a Hansom cab ride.''

Whatever turns up on Mr Faase and Ms Hall's registry, it's clear the young entrepreneur already has a gift for business.

Now for the fortune.