Do you use Please Call Me? Well, a young man has just won a case against Vodafone for reportedly stealing the idea and making money out of it. He will be paid Kshs. 67.5 Billion.
Here is a brief timeline of the #PleaseCallMe battle as written by Times Live;
2000: Nkosana Makate was employed as a trainee accountant by Vodacom.
November 2000: Makate came up with the āPlease Call Meā idea because his girlfriendā a student with whom he had a long-distance relationshipā could not afford to buy airtime to call him. He discussed the concept with Vodacomās director of product developmentā Philip Geissler. Makate asked for 15% of the revenue generated by the service. Howeverā they verbally agreed that he would receive āa shareā of the revenue if it proved to be successful.
Early 2001: Vodacom implemented the āPlease Call Meā product and reported that about 140 000 customers made use of the service on the day it was launched.
Mid 2003: Makate left his job at Vodacom.
2008: Following unsuccessful requests to Vodacom to honour the verbal agreementā Makate took the cellular giant to the high court. He asked the court to order Vodacom to pay him 15% of the revenue of the āPlease Call Meā service.
2013: Makateās financial backersāthe Sterling Rand Litigation Fund that funded his court battle for a cut of any settlement that may be achievedā estimated that Vodacom made up to R45-billion (or Kshs. 450 Billion) from the āPlease Call Meā service. Based on the original request for a 15% shareā the sum owed to Makate would be in the region of R6.75-billion (or Kshs. 67.5 Billion).
2014: The high court ruled that Makate had a valid agreement with Geissler but dismissed his claim on various groundsā including that his claim had prescribed because more than three years had passed. Vodacomās former CEO Alan Knot-Craigā who claimed in his autobiographyā Second is Nothingā to have been the brains behind āPlease Call Meā was forced to admit during the drawn out legal battle that the idea in fact belonged to Makate.
2015: The Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed Makateās application for leave to appeal.
April 2016 : The Constitutional Court rules in favour of Makate.