Clydestone Ghana Plc has initiated legal proceedings against MTN Ghana, MTN Group Limited and MobileMoney Fintech Limited, alleging that the companies unlawfully used its proprietary intellectual property to develop and commercialise MTN’s mobile money platform without authorisation or compensation.
The company filed a writ of summons and statement of claim at the Commercial Division of the High Court in Accra on July 27, 2026, according to a regulatory filing submitted to the Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE).
At the centre of the dispute is work Clydestone says it was commissioned to undertake by MTN in 2007 as part of plans to launch a mobile money business in Ghana. The company claims it developed a comprehensive commercial and operational framework for the proposed platform, including the commercial model, operational architecture, implementation methodology and supporting business case.
According to Clydestone, the work was personally authored by its founder and Group Chief Executive Officer, Paul Jacquaye.
The company alleges that the engagement was undertaken on the understanding that a non-disclosure agreement and memorandum of understanding would be executed. However, it contends that despite repeated requests, the agreements were never signed and MTN subsequently used its proprietary work, commercial methodology and operational intelligence without authorisation or payment.
Clydestone further claims that elements of the operational architecture and commercial model later implemented in MTN Mobile Money Ghana and subsequently deployed across several African markets were materially derived from the commissioned work.
The alleged unauthorised use, the company said, has continued since the launch of MTN Mobile Money Ghana in 2009. However, Clydestone said it only obtained independently verifiable evidence of the commercial scale of the platform after reviewing the GSMA State of the Industry Report on Mobile Money 2026 and MTN Ghana’s 2025 Annual Report, which disclosed approximately 19.3 million active Mobile Money users and annual revenue of about GH¢6.0 billion.
Following the publication of those reports, Clydestone said it reviewed its contemporaneous records relating to the 2007 engagement and concluded there were sufficient grounds to commence legal proceedings.
The company stated that it has not received any payment or acknowledgement from any of the defendants regarding the commissioned work since December 2007. It also noted that pre-action correspondence sent by its legal counsel in 2026 received no substantive response.
Clydestone is seeking declarations, damages, equitable remedies and any further relief the court considers appropriate.
The company’s Board of Directors said it unanimously authorised the commencement of the legal action and assured shareholders that the litigation will not affect its operations, customers or ongoing business activities.
MTN Group Limited had not commented on the allegations at the time of publication. The claims made by Clydestone have not been tested in court.
