ChekkitApp

Supporting pharmaceutical and product anti-counterfeiting and traceability.

Past and Current Partners

Merck Global Accelerator, Google For Startup Accelerator, Google Black Fund, SAP global accelerator, Microsoft Accelerator.

Active Countries
Nigeria, Afghanistan
Thematic area(s)
Health, Inclusive Growth
Technology
SaaS, Whitelabel, Blockchain, AI
Organisation Name
Chekkit Technologies Corp.
READ MORE ON THEIR WEBSITE

The Problem

ChekkitApp’s target problem is the illicit trade in the pharmaceutical and consumer goods industry. ChekkitApp spent 2017 - 2018 doing deep research in Ghana and Nigeria, where they surveyed about 800 people and discovered issues with how consumers in Africa simply trust their neighbourhood pharmacies and don't bother to check the authenticity of the drug they use, this has led to 100,000 yearly deaths from fake anti-malaria drugs in West Africa (according to WHO). Over the last 10 years, anti-counterfeiting solutions within Africa have only seen a 10% authentication rate.

The Solution

Chekkit is a consumer intelligence platform powered by blockchain for packaged product anti-counterfeiting and traceability.

How it works?

  • Step 1: Working with manufacturers to agree on a traceability format (sticker labels or on-pack serialisations printing). Both options follow the GS1 standard. Survey questions are attached with associated rewards for consumers.
  • Step 2: The authentication campaign and associated rewards are announced on social media, traditional radio, and television
  • Step 3: Patients or caregivers buy the products and authenticate before use and win a reward either via USSD (no-internet) or via mobile app for free.The rewards are received as tokens on the App or via SMS and can be converted into instant cash, airtime, coupon codes etc
  • Step 4: After the verification and survey data are acquired, they are combined with satellite data, mobile phone & user data, and proprietary algorithms to generate insights on trends relating to the type of consumers buying the product for the manufacturer to make informed marketing and growth decisions while protecting their brand from counterfeiting
  • Step 5: Furthermore, the track & trace elements enable manufacturers to trace which market their product was originally designated for versus where it was actually authenticated - which could be another country entirely

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Digital X Solution ChekkitApp

Bridging the digital divide

Products are tailored for the African population in urban and rural areas with lower internet penetration. They offer anti-fake sticker labels which are attached to medicine packs or sachets by manufacturer's approval which consumers can verify at the point of purchase with USSD (without internet) or a mobile App. Serialisation is now also available directly on product packs via machine-line printing and integrations, following GS1 standards for track & trace and proprietary algorithms.

Impact and highlights

  • Helped 400,000+ vulnerable consumers in Nigeria and 80,000+ in Afghanistan verify the authenticity of their drugs & packaged food.
  • Increased 25 brands' direct consumer engagement with their product package from a rate of 0 to 60% with the Chekkit labels/code in Nigeria.
  • Protected 30M+ product packs with the Chekkit serialised code.

Plans for expansion

Currently, have plans to operate an excise tax stamp program via product serialisation standards across Africa. Chekkit has partnerships with Telecel group (presence in 22 African countries) for the Ghana and CAR markets on the cellular network side as well as partnerships with GIFS Islamic finances for expansion and settlement in South Africa on the retail chain store side for POS integrations.