Nigeria based Chekkit Technologies, a startup that offers product verification, anti-counterfeiting solutions, announced that it secured a partnership to roll out its tech in Afghanistan.
Founded in 2018 by Dare Odumade and Oluwatosin Adelowo, Chekkit claims to protect manufacturers and consumers against food and drug counterfeits.
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With Chekkit, consumers can verify products by scanning barcodes or using USSD for confirmation. Similarly, the company provides insights on consumers back to the manufacturers where they can choose to act on it by using rewards and loyalty programmes or upsell/cross-sell to customers.
Odumade, CEO of the startup says that the company has been in talks with major players in the Nigerian health space to run a pilot for a while. Right now, it is currently involved in the NAFDAC serialisation plans for pharmaceuticals through collaborations with GS1 Nigeria, the non-profit organisation behind the authorised GS1 barcodes. However it’s in Asia the company is getting its first big break.
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In November 2019, Chekkit finished the first runner up in a blockchain pitch competition at the AfricArena Summit. The competition was sponsored by Fantom, a DAG-based smart contract platform that was already in talks with the Ministry of Health in Afghanistan to help the country with its pharma product counterfeiting problem.
After the event, the ministry signed an MoU with Fantom and Chekkit for a 3-month pilot project that will see Chekkit’s product being used to track and verify 80,000 pharmaceutical products sold in the country.
“Through this partnership, we will provide the pharma companies involved with valuable consumer insights and a reward program to encourage purchase and verification by buyers. We will also give the government/ministry a transparent view of the pharmaceutical market. On completion of a successful pilot, we envisage our technology being deployed across the board for all meds coming into Afghanistan,” the CEO says.
Last year, the company took part in the FB Start Accelerator, a programme known to back deep-tech companies in Nigeria and Ghana. Since then, Odumade claims the company has grown more than 1,200% in revenue and has done over 100,000 consumer authentications.
Similarly, the team has raised over $100,000 in grants and with such financial backing, Odumade says the company has more projects in its pipeline.
“Expect us to launch new products that tackle issues along the supply chain like theft, transparency, counterfeiting and consumer safety. We started with USSD authentications for consumers and an intelligence system for brands, while we just launched our PWA and app for scan authentications. In the near future we will further launch products for track and trace automation and real-time cargo tracking.”
Kelechi Deca
Kelechi Deca has over two decades of media experience, he has traveled to over 77 countries reporting on multilateral development institutions, international business, trade, travels, culture, and diplomacy. He is also a petrol head with in-depth knowledge of automobiles and the auto industry