Digicel Samoa has denied a claim that it took an idea from a local church leader and used it to make money.
The claim is made by Reverend Falefatu Enari, who says he met with representatives from Digicel in the middle of last year to discuss his concept of an online advertising website, called Poly Marketplace.
It was a website, which he says was designed as an online vehicle for people in Samoa and the region to place adds to buy, sell and rent items - one that could be accessed from their mobile phones.
This, he said, is why he approached the telecommunications company, so they could cater for transactions between people using the site through its Digicel Mobile Money application. In July last year, a Confidentiality Agreement was signed between Reverend Enari and Digicel, which stated that the “receiving party” to the idea, Digicel, shall “not divulge the disclosing party's Confidential Information, in whole or in part to any third party.
And, the agreement reads, “make no commercial use of the same or any part thereof either directly or indirectly nor use the Confidential Information to obtain any commercial advantage or otherwise to exploit the same without the prior written consent of the disclosing party,” the agreement reads. Rev. Enari said in essence the Confidentiality Agreement was drawn up to protect his interests from Digicel setting up a similar online business like polymarketplace.com.
This is why he was surprised to discover an almost identical website www.samoalists.com appear online by a Digicel affiliate Mobimedia, using the Digicel network.
He said he has since taken down his website, polymarketplace. com, until this matter is resolved.
Asked for a comment, Digicel’s Head of Corporate Affairs, Le’aupepe Tala’i Jr Lene, said the company would like to clarify that under no circumstances was there a breach of contract regarding Reverend Enari’s claims.
“Confidentially is of the utmost importance to Digicel and our clients and we take our responsibility to protect the privacy and confidentiality of client information very seriously,” an email from the company said.
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“Reverend Enari first approached Digicel Samoa in June 2013 seeking a partnership to operate a mobile classified service that offers Digicel Samoa a platform where they can buy, sell and trade items via mobile.
“The concept however is not a recent development in mobile marketing.
Mobimedia a content provider had previously developed the platform and application in 2007 and secured the licence to provide the same in January 2013.
“Consequently, the platform has been a longstanding development for Mobimedia prior to Reverend Enari’s proposal in June.
“Therefore, Digicel currently permits Mobimedia to manage the platform and Digicel merely houses it from the Digicel Live Hub.
“Digicel does however encourage technology developments within Samoa both inside and outside of their business.”
Despite securing a licence in January 2013, the www.samoalists. com website was not registered by Mobimedia, a full-service mobile and Internet media specialist with print, web, digital and audio-visual capabilities, until August 12, 2013. “SamoaLists is a Mobimedia LTD. product, distributed regionally through the Digicel Mobile network,” the website reads.
“Created in 2013, SamoaLists services the user-to-user transactions of mobile customers serviced through the Digicel Mobile Network.”
Rev. Enari said when he took the concept to Digicel, they were excited about the endless possibilities it had.
They offered him a touch phone, a home zone phone and a special code number to help setup his business.
“But something was amiss when my website was all setup, and Digicel refused to sign a contract to list their business and their products with me,” he said.
“This new product is built on a concept Digicel took from me. It’s a shame when a big corporation like Digicel resorts to taking from small upstart businesses to try and keep up with the competition.
“There is an infringement, and I am waiting to see how Digicel is going to remedy the infringement.”
Asked why Digicel signed the Confidentiality Agreement in the first place if Mobimedia was already working with Digicel on a similar concept, Le'aupepe said that Rev. Enari insisted for an agreement to be signed before he could share his idea.
“It is not an original idea if you have a look at how long online trading has been around,” he said.
“But we wanted to work with him and anyone else to promote innovative entrepreneurship in our country.”
Despite this, Digicel has not responded to any of the three letters that Rev. Enari has written to them in an attempt to mediate the situation.
Digicel was asked why they had not contacted Rev. Enari or what steps they were taking to address the issue. Both questions were not answered in their email response.
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