Company demands E29m
MBABANE - A company which claims to have designed the Mobile Money (MoMo) platform for SMEs on behalf of MTN Eswatini is demanding over E29 million from the former for alleged breach of contract.
Mobile Money is a service permitting monetary value to be digitally stored in a mobile phone and transacted to others through text messaging.
IO Lab (PTY) Limited, which also claims to have automated the capturing of VELA (Know Your Customer) and the piloting of MoMo for SMEs (small and medium enterprises), alleged that MTN Eswatini had continued to benefit from the proceeds of the platform without paying them as the brains behind it.
Demanding
IO Lab, a company registered in terms of the company laws of Eswatini, is not only demanding the sum of E29 160 000, but said it reserved the right to apply for a court interdict to stop the continued use of the platform while the matter is still pending.
The company, IO Lab (PTY) Limited, alleged that it entered into a partnership agreement with
MTN Eswatini during the year 2017. Through its lawyer, Sifiso Maseko of SM Maseko Attorneys in Mbabane, IO Lab has caused to be issued a letter of demand to MTN Eswatini, where it is demanding payment of the aforementioned amount within 14 days.
According to the company, it allegedly developed a SMEs’ Mobile Money proposal /platform for MTN Eswatini, which was supposed to be rolled out as a partnership between the parties. The proposal, according to the company, was firstly to automate the capturing of ‘Know Your Customer’ (KYC), and then pilot the use of MoMo for SMEs as payment option. These are allegations contained in the letter of demand whose veracity is still to be tested in court.
It is further alleged by IO Lab that during the discussion of the partnership, MTN Eswatini was engaged in a financial offer of how much the partnership would cost. Offers and counter-offers, according to IO Lab, were exchanged between the parties.