Over the years, one of the problems that have plagued the Nigerian market has been the one of product counterfeiting which has led constantly to less than ideal experiences for consumers. Despite the government’s efforts to curb this menace, it has sadly continued to thrive. However, with the launch of Chekkit, an anti-counterfeiting, assets tracking and consumer feedback analytics tool, the end to product counterfeiting might just be in sight.
Interestingly, Chekkit is more than a product anti-counterfeiting tool. In a recent interview with Innovation Village, the CEO OF Chekkit Technologies, Dare Odumade, gives an insight into the many features of the Chekkit tool, his shared thoughts on the emerging Nigeria tech ecosystem and of course his advice for aspiring young entrepreneurs.
Can we meet the founders of Chekkit?
Chekkit was founded by Dare Odumade and Jida Asare at Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology (MEST) in Ghana. Dare, is a geologist and software developer who enjoys creating new ways to solve problems, he had formerly founded other software companies; including Strictlyui – a social network for students at the University of Ibadan, Sharebunk – a music streaming and instant messaging app and recently developed a voice payment solution for one of Nigeria’s leading bank. He focuses on sales and strategic company growth as CEO at Chekkit Technologies while Jida, a pharmacist and software developer who also formerly founded Medcode – a health-tech startup and worked with several leading pharmaceutical producers and distributors in Ghana. She manages and develops the company’s products as CPO at Chekkit Technologies.
What is Chekkit all about and what does it have to offer?
Chekkit is an anti-counterfeiting, assets tracking and consumer feedback analytics tool designed to track product movement and parties involved in the transfer of products from Warehouse to Distributor and up to the final consumer. Simply put, we provide end-2-end real-time supply chain tracking technology. We are enabling people to tell the origin of products before they consume them and we reward with instant airtime when our codes are checked, while providing actionable last mile and supply chain data to producers in order to increase their ROI, organically market their products and battle product counterfeiting in emerging markets like Nigeria.
What motivated the founding of Chekkit?
It was mainly our interest to fix inefficient supply chain processes particularly from the point of product distribution where most – if not all – companies and regulatory bodies loose visibility on assets, creating opportunities for the entrance of illicit traders.
What unique services does Chekkit have to offer?
Our Technology, as we have intelligently combined Artificial intelligence, blockchain, and Mobile authentication technologies to create a truly dynamic product – Chekkit was intentionally created to offer continuous value to quality product producers and commodity traders such as pharmaceutical companies, FMCGs, Textiles, Precious metals traders etc. as well as consumers and regulatory bodies. Our aim is to impact lives by enabling anyone from any social class tell the history and origin of products they consume while offering real-time consumption data to producers to improve their ROI and help government bodies discover points of entry of illicit traders. To ensure that the data we collect and transfer cannot be manipulated, unique identities created for every product and the information they carry are secured on the ethereum blockchain network.
How does Chekkit work?
We produce tamper-proof Unique ID labels either as QR codes or Numeric codes which can be affixed on premium packaged food and beverage Cartons or individual products for supply chain and last-mile tracking, respectively. For the last-mile tracking numeric codes are scratched and authenticated via USSD at the point of sale by consumers, while feedback and location are collected within the session and consumer is rewarded with either instant airtime or loyalty points as incentives. Producers can then access the chekkit dashboard for Insights and analytics drawn from the last-mile data captured and instantly respond to customer’s complaints. It in a similar way for QR codes which are authenticated and tracked by scanning while supply chain activities can be tracked and traced on Chekkit Activity dashboard in real-time.
What has the traction been like since its launch?
We have gained product and market validation since launch as we spent over 8 months understanding and studying industry supply chain processes, speaking with industry professionals to gain insights before we developed a solution. We are presently working closely with a few Enterprise companies and pharmaceutical distributors in Nigeria. We charge an affordable annual licensing depending on the client’s output frequency.
What were the challenges encountered and achievements recorded so far since Chekkit launched?
Wow, it’s been a crazy journey so far but also exciting – A few wins this year are recognition from top tech accelerators as we were shortlisted as one of the top startups in Africa for StartUpbootcamp AfriTech, Merck Accelerator West-Africa, and Seedstars Lagos challenge. Our team size as also increased with high-value talents joining us and we have gained buy-in from industry leading pharmaceutical distributors and producers. However, one of our major challenges is being yet to be licensed in Nigeria as an official serialization and MAS (Mobile authentication system) by the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC) which restrains pharmaceutical producers who are eager to commence using Chekkit to enhance their supply chain from using our solution.
What advice do you have for prospective entrepreneurs out there?
Dream big and think of impossible things but start small and set immediate achievable, incremental goals for yourselves. You should never stop believing in your dream and never stop grinding to make them a reality. We often want to chase the gains from the start but instead if we solve a real pain or problem the gains follow.
What are the future plans for Chekkit?
We are on a mission to impact lives across emerging markets primarily with our plan to grow across Africa and Asia in the coming years.
What do you have to say about the evolving Nigerian startup ecosystem?
The ecosystem is still emerging and will lead the 4th industrial revolution in Africa with Africans in the forefront. We are game changers in this part of the world with a hunger for innovation in our soul and the rest of the world is starting to recognize this. In 2016, I took part in a research by endeavor.org on the Lagos startup ecosystem and they recently revealed insights that the software entrepreneurship community in Lagos has a greater level of productivity than the other African cities in the study. It has produced close to 9,500 jobs and its firms have raised an amount of venture capital funding that is similar to those in comparable cities like Nairobi.
However, established businesses and government bodies in Nigeria should be more attentive to the value startups are providing and support them with infrastructure, finance and mentoring like other African countries ripping enormous community developmental benefits from their startup ecosystems like in Rwanda, Kenya and Ghana.
