Equity Bank has scored a major victory in court against a businessman who had claimed they stole the innovative mobile banking M-Kesho concept from him. The bank has been in dispute with Hoswell Njuguna since 2010. Njuguna had claimed that he was the brain behind the M-Kesho concept and that he discussed the idea with two agents of the bank with an aim of negotiating an agreement.
He claimed that in breach of confidence, the bank and Safaricom created M-Kesho with characteristics identical to his “Weka Usaidike”, the product he had discussed with the banks employee. Court of Appeal judges Phillip Waki, Roslyn Nambuye and Patrick Kiage in a judgment dismissed his case saying it lacks merit. “There was no cogent proof tendered by the appellant on infringement and it is our finding that the original concept was not used by the bank” the judges ruled.
In addition, the three judges said there would be no firm basis for rejecting the bank’s assertion that the new concept was a logical progression of technologies and innovations it had commended for its customers even before Njuguna approached them. Njuguna , trading as Fischer and Fischer Marketing Concepts, had approached the Appellate Court after his first legal bid was rejected by the High Court. He said he developed the unique concept in 2006 to encourage low income earners, of about Sh180 per day and less, to save money by offering them a cheap and easy system of banking. His idea was that the bank would open accounts for low income earners without seeking deposits.