How to Enhance Supply Chain Efficiency in Africa Through Product Digital Identity Management with Dare Odumade

[00:00:00] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa Podcast. I wanted to build something that could really solve a key problem in Africa, on the continent, beyond just, you know, trying to build tech for the sake of tech. At the end of the day, it's a business and you are meant to provide value as an entrepreneur to your customers.

[00:00:20] And that's what we saw. We were able to bring together thought leaders within the space to come together to provide knowledge in that book called Thrive, Mastering E-Commerce, The African Way. The way we designed the user experience, we designed it, you know, let's say easy adoption for the user because they're already very familiar with the process. Stay tuned as we bring you inspiring people who are unlocking Africa's economic potential.

[00:00:47] You're listening to the Unlocking Africa Podcast with your host, Tessa Adamu. Welcome to the Unlocking Africa Podcast, where we find inspirational people who are doing inspirational things to unlock Africa's economic potential. Today, we have Dare Odumade, who is CEO of CheckIt.

[00:01:12] CheckIt is a company that protects consumers from the dangers of using counterfeit products while helping consumer goods and pharmaceutical companies boost their sales and increase supply chain transparency. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the podcast, Dare. How are you? Thank you. Thank you so much, Tessa. Thank you for having me. It's a pleasure to be here. It's an absolute pleasure to have you on the podcast. So let's get straight into it.

[00:01:40] Let's start with your story. How did the idea for CheckIt come about? What problems were you trying to solve in that process? I think in the very early days, it was majorly an inspiration for me. I wanted to build something that could really solve a key problem in Africa on the continent beyond just, you know, trying to build tech for the sake of tech.

[00:02:07] So the idea came about when I experienced or one of my friends had experienced a patient die from counterfeits anti-malarial medicine, you know, and then that really picked my brain about why this was still a problem. And this was back in 2017, you know, why this was still a problem on the continent.

[00:02:28] So we decided to go out with my team to start to research this space, you know, speak with people who buy drugs in the pharmacy and speak to the pharmacy attendants as well to get a sense of, you know, how concerned are they about counterfeit products? And to my surprise, almost 90% of the folks who spoke to the pharmacy didn't really care, right, in terms of the consumers.

[00:02:55] But they really care about, you know, the possibility that they could be buying counterfeits, primarily because when anyone goes to the pharmacy, especially they go to their neighborhood pharmacy, they trust that they are buying the original product. They trust that their neighborhood pharmacist will not sell to them a counterfeit product. And also the fact that the primary thing is they just want to get well, right? They just want to feel better. So when I go into a pharmacy, I just want to pick up the drug, pop it and feel good.

[00:03:23] It's when I don't feel good after three days that I start to feel concerned, right? And that's what we saw across. So, you know, the idea was then how could we encourage people before they buy or use a medication to authenticate it? Because even before we started, there were already sticker labels on products, right? But less than 5% or 10% of those are actually getting scammed, right? So we had to think of how do we encourage people to actually take that action when they see the drugs in their hand?

[00:03:52] And how do we encourage manufacturers as well, importers, to also proactively decide to put this on their brands without having to be pushed by government? You know, so that's where we researched both sides and we discovered for the consumers, we needed to provide some sort of incentive to get them to take the action. While on the brand side, provide some sort of incentive as well from the point of view of data and insights to get them to actually do this on their product brand.

[00:04:20] Not because of regulatory push, but because they see it as an avenue to actually engage and get market data, market insights. So that's kind of how the idea came about. Fantastic. So you highlighted something quite key there in terms of you wanting to solve a problem that went beyond building tech. The turning point was unfortunately a fatal experience, which made you, I guess, realize supply chain transparency needed urgent attention in Africa.

[00:04:49] So I guess this comes in line or is aligned with your tagline, which is growing brands, saving lives and securing industries. So would you say that was in line with the experience or was there a different process in terms of how you arrived at that mission? No, you spot on it. It was actually based on how we saw our customers perceive our value, right?

[00:05:14] Because beyond tech, beyond building fancy solutions, at the end of the day, it's a business, right? And you are meant to provide value as an entrepreneur to your customers. And that's what we saw, right? Thought about our service as a tool for them to use in growing and also for them to use in protecting their consumers. And also as a tool to actually secure their place within the industry and also protect their brand right across that industry.

[00:05:43] For us, it's really more of, you know, looking at it from our customers perspective or our users perspective, the value that we provide. And that became our mission. So in terms of adding value, we've met through some additional work that you've been doing in terms of thought leadership. You contributed to a chapter in a Lagos business skill book, which was the Thrive Mastering E-Commerce, the African way. So how did the collaboration come about?

[00:06:13] Yes, that's a really nice question. And I really enjoyed working on that chapter. And I mean, that happened primarily, I think it happened. First of all, it happened when I was reached out to by the team within Lagos Business School, the retail academy team that was working on this project before the book actually came about. So we actually had like a panel conversation with the team.

[00:06:40] And I think I was invited primarily, just like every other entrepreneur that was invited as well, as, you know, being thought leaders within the space that the Lagos Business School was looking at. So I think that was primarily how it came about. So we got that outreach from the school.

[00:06:59] And then, you know, having that conversation, you know, with the group, the team leading it, we discovered that or they discovered that, hey, this had to be, you know, something much more elaborate and make it something much more worthwhile for everyone who was going to be able to benefit from the kind of knowledge that was in the room at the time.

[00:07:18] And so we, I think they then decided that, you know, we, they're going to write a book and then bring in thought leaders across the industry from the entire value chain of e-commerce in general or even commerce in general, as you may have it. Because, of course, ideally for e-commerce to exist, commerce already has to be existing, right?

[00:07:40] So from that point of view, they were able to bring together thought leaders within the space, entrepreneurs, regulators as well, you know, into the space who have had those experiences to come together to provide knowledge in that book called Thrive, Mastering E-Commerce the African Way, where I contributed a chapter primarily on the role of product digital identity management.

[00:08:07] And how that can really, really scale up e-commerce business on the continent and the likes. Yeah. So I was going to touch on that. Your chapter in the book is Enhancing E-Commerce Efficiency in Africa, the role of product digital identity management. So what were the key messages you wanted to share for your chapter?

[00:08:29] So through my chapter, I wanted to really touch on the fact that one of the key challenges we have of the continent across even LMICs, which is low to medium income earning countries globally, is the lack of, say, regulatory framework to help supply chain to become more structured. Supply chain is heavily, heavily fragmented within this market, heavily chaotic.

[00:08:56] And, you know, product digital identities, the mechanism that the high income countries have used over time as a structure to ensure that, you know, the market does not have issues around counterfeit products or parallel importations and things like that, that cannot be traced back to the original source of the product. And that's where we have a lot of problems in Africa, you know, when it comes to products.

[00:09:22] That's why you see counterfeit products really, you know, scattered across or being heavily eaten into the market share for a lot of manufacturers and also causing debts of people, particularly in the pharmaceutical space. So I really wanted to touch on how, you know, when you look at it from the e-commerce perspective, how businesses like Amazon have been able to make a lot of growth in their own sector, in the global markets, in the high income markets.

[00:09:48] And the reason why, you know, Amazon has not even thought of going to play directly in the low to medium income markets is primarily because, you know, their business model is really structured around product digital identities. Yes.

[00:10:01] So as a reseller, you can't come in and upload a product into the Amazon network without providing the digital identity for that product, which is the serial code or serial number of that product or a barcode number of that product that can enable them trace it back to the original manufacturer and even possibly check it against the national database.

[00:10:22] Right. So ideally, when producers produce products within these markets, they have to electronically transfer the product information to the government, to a national repository, you know, that allows anyone who is trading in the market to be able to check and verify that code against that national repository. And that creates a framework, that creates a guidance.

[00:10:44] And that's what I'm really trying to touch on here to show that that's where we need to be going or to be headed in Africa for us to have a, you know, a more stable e-commerce, a more efficient e-commerce business at scale on the continent to have that as a framework. So that infrastructure is super important. And that's kind of where Check It has also decided to play in with other players, right? Is to develop this infrastructure.

[00:11:13] But the good news now is that, you know, you're saying FDA is particularly in Nigeria and a few other African countries are beginning to, you know, take the bold step to mandate serialization, even though in phases, you know, starting off with pharmaceuticals.

[00:11:31] Very soon, hopefully it goes into the food, every other consumer goods, you know, where you have a policy that mandates that each of these products must carry a unique identifier and that that unique identifier must be communicated to the national repository. You know, once that is done across the continent and once that is standardized, right, using things like the global standard one framework, it creates interoperability for systems.

[00:11:58] It creates visibility of products throughout the supply chain. So once a manufacturer produces, the distributor is receiving by scanning. When the distributor receives by scanning and they disaggregate from pallets into cartons and they are shipping to a wholesaler, the wholesaler is, you know, receiving by scanning as well. And then the retailer is also receiving the units packed, so the cartons by scanning and then dispersing by scanning as well. So that automates visibility for the entire life journey of that product, you know, as it moves across.

[00:12:28] And it's also the same for the e-commerce platforms where they are also being basically able to scan in products into their inventory and scanning out online or even through their delivery guides when they're delivering to the last mile. And everybody knows exactly what that product is. Even the government knows exactly what that product went through. So you want to have scenarios of what I ordered versus what I got happening, right? Yes.

[00:12:50] So you touched on supply chains are fragmented on the continent and it's sometimes hard to tell the story of a product's journey. And I know CheckIt, as a company, is a tool to tell the story of a product's supply chain. So can you walk us specifically through how that works in real world terms? Yeah, absolutely. CheckIt is designed as an infrastructure for product restability.

[00:13:18] What that means is we provide APIs that plugs into the manufacturers for providing the serialization for the manufacturers. Where the serialization already exists, we can ingest that, right? And then leverage those serialization for the product's journey as it moves across the supply chain.

[00:13:38] We also provide these APIs to provide data to governments and also provide access to utilize the serial codes for inventory solutions, ERP solutions.

[00:13:50] So even solution providers, ERP solution providers can integrate our APIs to also leverage technology to be able to understand the codes on the products and scan them to automatically capture that data into inventory and also leverage that for when the product is going out of inventory. We remove any sort of manual process from the supply chain with our APIs.

[00:14:19] And we also have a scanning module that also allows last mile scanning or authentication of product, as well as for the POS sector as well to be able to scan out with a serial code at the point of sale.

[00:14:32] So this way, we are able to capture data of the product's live journey as it moves across, even up to the point of whether it's an expired product or it has been dispensed or it's a waste and it's been taken away as a waste product. All of this information we're able to capture based on the way our APIs integrate with multiple systems within the supply chain.

[00:14:58] So that this way as well, we make sure that it's not a matter of having to switch your systems or switch the products that you're using, but rather enhance that product to have visibility into the product serial codes that are carried by those products.

[00:15:13] So we release it as an infrastructure to plug into existing supply chains and then tell the story of that product back to the manufacturer about where the product has been, but also tell the story as well to the final consumer as well. We can just pick up the product and scan either with the Check It app or even with regular QR code scanners to see where that product has been.

[00:15:38] So they can see where it was the manufacturer, who was the distributor that picked it up, where it was the host and I got it to the pharmacy or the store I bought it from. Yeah, that's essentially how we do that. Fantastic. So what part of this process helps specifically in combating the issue of, say, counterfeit products entering the supply chain? Yeah. So if you go back to the fact that the supply chain is heavily fragmented and you have parallel importations,

[00:16:06] and what that means is that even the government, without having like a national repository of unique identifiers, can't tell what product is entering the markets or going where, right? Because you have a lot of bad actors at the ports and borders that sort of allow these products to enter the market, right? And the supply chain is really where the counterfeits enter the market, right?

[00:16:32] So from the distributor angle, the retailer angle as well, these counterfeit products enter the market through that, through those means. And what you see is a lot of the retailers or even wholesalers can't also decipher what the original and fake looks like, right? Because oftentimes the counterfeit cells are so good, so advanced, so sophisticated, that they can copy the exact same look and feel of the original product, right?

[00:17:00] Which makes it very difficult for the wholesalers and resellers, you know, to even identify the difference. So they are also victims. And then you have the final consumer also falling victim. However, of course, this is relative to industries, right? So if you look at it from the textile or fashion industry, even sometimes makeup industry, cosmetics, you see that consumers are very aware that you're buying a counterfeit product. Yes.

[00:17:28] And sometimes they readily go out for those counterfeit products, right? Because they know it's cheaper and it just gives them that feel. Because sometimes at the end of the day, when we're buying, like I said, we're buying majorly based on the value that we're getting for it. You know, it makes them feel like they have bought the original and they can post on Instagram and feel cool and feel good with themselves, right? And that's why that industry is still thriving, particularly when you look at it from that lens.

[00:17:56] But when you look at it from the lens that affects lives, you know, from food to drugs, those affect life directly. So I know for sure people will not just go into the market and say, I want to buy a counterfeit anti-malaria or antibiotic, right? I'd rather look for the original because in this case, I'm concerned about my life or even counterfeit baby food because I'm concerned about making sure my baby is safe. Yeah.

[00:18:19] So in those kind of scenarios, those scenarios are also very difficult to identify the fake and the original as well, right? Which makes it very difficult for them or for, you know, for these consumers to make it very easy for them to fall victim of the counterfeits and even lose their life as a result of that.

[00:18:38] I guess one of the things I found quite interesting is that you offer both an app and a USSD, which is more or less like an offline solution to access the platform. Why was it important to make CheckIt accessible offline?

[00:18:55] First of all, what we see today in the markets, let's say we use Nigeria as a case study, we see over 90% of consumers who authenticate products, authenticate our labels, do it over USSD, right? You just have about 10 to 8% that use the mobile application to scan, right? But that gives us a sizable amount of data.

[00:19:21] However, you know, the USSD is very essential primarily for us because we see the way we design the user experience, we design it with low, you know, let's say easy adoption for the user because the process was already very familiar with the process, which is the process of, typical process of loading a recharge card, right?

[00:19:45] You dial it, whatever, whatever, the pain hash, and you get to know if your product's authentic or fake, right? So it's very similar to how you're going to recharge airtime back in the day before everyone started buying airtime from mobile apps and the likes, right? So that's how we designed it.

[00:20:30] And they don't get a feedback, right? So we decided to go with the USSD route because it was more real time. You know, you can dial the short code and expect to get a response within seconds. So in that process, we're able to build in the USSD, but even building into that process surveys, which the manufacturer uses in asking questions for feedback from the consumers.

[00:20:54] And we also, by default, give rewards to consumers for completing this process as a way to encourage them to actually take the action. So we give them airtime of like a hundred Naira for every five products that, you know, a consumer authenticates, five unique products, which will carry five unique labels. So this is one of the reasons. And USSD were just, you know, one of the most efficient ways to do this offline.

[00:21:20] Again, because it had very high adoption rates based on the fact that we were in changing behavior of consumers. It was very easy for them to adopt because it was already a behavior they are used to, which is recharging airtime over USSD. Thank you for sharing that.

[00:21:35] So I guess if we move from the customer experience back to the manufacturers and the value that is added, how have you seen the work that you do help manufacturers regain market share that was potentially lost to counterfeits?

[00:21:52] So the beauty of the unique identifier, especially the labels, the sticker labels that we provide, or even the unique identifier in terms of GS1 serial codes that we provide, is that they are designed to have uniqueness in their look as well. So our sticker labels look very fancy. It's a bright green color. Looks like a camel thing on the pack.

[00:22:17] It has a scratch of label on it that would say scratch, verify and win. In some instances for the prescription only medicine, it says scratch and win. Sorry, scratch and verify rather. And we do this intentionally to make sure that it's captivating for the consumers, right? And this way, when consumers are seeing this regularly on the products that they purchase, they wouldn't not see it on the product and still buy that product, right?

[00:22:45] So what we're seeing a lot of times is consumers actually, because we have an emergency phone number on our sticker labels. For one of our customers, we're seeing, a few of our customers actually, we're seeing consumers call that number up to say, hey, I found this product or I found a product that looks like this product in the pharmacy, but it doesn't have the sticker label on it, right? So in a way, we are driving that awareness around consumers.

[00:23:11] And consumers are naturally eager to see that label on the next product that they purchase. If they don't, they feel concerned, right? So that's one of the ways that we are capturing market share back for the brands. But when you look at it from the traceability point of view, which has now become a policy, a mandatory policy in Nigeria, that naturally sort of cuts off the entire access for counterfeiters to even trade in the market.

[00:23:40] But because before a distributor can pick up for a manufacturer, they have to scan to pick up. And if they scan and realize that and scan and they don't get any feedback, they don't get any confirmation that that product or the serial code of the pallets or the carton exists with the national database, you know, that already raises a red flag instantly. That lets them know that the product is naturally not, you know, not compliant with the regulatory framework of the country, which means it could be fake, right?

[00:24:08] So that way, naturally, we're beginning to win back market share for the brands. It's definitely going to take more time for this adoption, particularly on the GS1 traceability side, to be, you know, to scale across the industry, scale across the markets. It will take a couple of years. But ultimately, that is the best way to capture, you know, market share back for manufacturers.

[00:24:33] In other instances, because we add surveys and the likes to the product authentication process that we do, which allows consumers to give feedback to the brands, we're also able to sort of capture data back for the brands to understand what the customers like about their product or don't like about their product, where the customers buy their product from, preferably, so that they can also, manufacturers can also better position their marketing and their sales to those areas where,

[00:25:01] you know, they're seeing the most adoption, most purchase from the customers. Brilliant, brilliant. So you touched on quite a few benefits that product identifiers bring. So I wanted to kind of expand in terms of how do they enhance the wider ecosystem in terms of areas like logistics, whether it's payments in the e-commerce space as well. How can they be used in those areas? Yeah, I think that's a great question.

[00:25:30] So that's one of the things that makes it super important to look at traceability beyond just brand protection, but rather as an enabler of commerce, right? So the first layer is to provide product digital identity as a sort of framework for compliance, right? And making sure that all of the products carry these unique identifiers. Then the next layer is providing these unique identifiers as a medium for exchange, right?

[00:26:00] Meaning providing that infrastructure into existing systems, inventory systems, ERP systems, even tax systems, even border systems, right? Custom systems. For that framework, for that infrastructure to then be used in scanning the product when they arrive at the border to automate, you know, the entire process of the customs regulatory process to authorize a product into the country.

[00:26:28] Actually verify because the unique identifiers, if you're looking at it from an import perspective, the unique identifiers on the container would tell you if that product is actually designated for that market or not, right? So the things you can get out of that, of those unique identifiers are the who, what, why, and where, right? Which basically means who in terms of who is a manufacturer and who is a distributor is designated for. The what, which is what item it is, what kind of product it is.

[00:26:58] The why is where is it going to and why is it in this particular market, which means again identifying if it's the right market it's meant to be at. And the how, which means, you know, how did it get to that place? Is it the product that was shipped in or flowing by air? All of those information you can capture within the unique identifier. And this also enables, you know, that same infrastructure provided to distributors

[00:27:25] who are receiving those products, wholesalers who are receiving those products from distributors to scan them, also sort of naturally appends, you know, so basically adds those information of those events in the supply chain onto those, onto those unique identifiers' digital identity, right? So that digital identity continues to aggregate information as it moves along the supply chain, right? So that's why at the last mile, when the consumer scan this unique identifier,

[00:27:55] they're able to tell exactly where the product has been, who it has been with, before it got to them, right? Now, being in that framework perspective or mindset, the next layer that can come on top of that is logistics, right? Because again, easily you can leverage the scanning to indicate that this product has been received or this product is going to be shipped to a particular location. And what's the exact product that it is as well, right?

[00:28:23] That data is captured in the framework of the scanning. And once you scan and then you initiate the process of shipping, which is basically the logistics driver carrying the products to the next location where it's going to be delivered. And then when the logistics driver delivers it, and those are the warehouse scan to receive it, automatically, you know, that can generate an invoice to indicate that this product has been received. Automatically, it cuts out, you know, the back and forth of confirmation

[00:28:51] that the product, whether the product has been received or not, before raising an invoice, before getting payments for the shipment, which are one of the things that we see a lot in the FMCG industry, in the logistics space that delays payments from coming out from suppliers and the likes, right? So this can cut down that time significantly into minutes, right? Rather than days or months before payments comes out. So that's one of the things that we see with logistics, but it also creates that visibility.

[00:29:21] So beyond just tracking the truck to know where the truck is, what about the goods, right? What about confirming that the goods have not been switched in the supply chain, that it's still the same goods that was shipped from point A, that was actually received at point B, you know? So that's what this does as well. It provides that verification means for, you know, the receiver to also validate that, yes, I received the products intact as it should be, because I can scan the package and identify

[00:29:50] that is actually the product, right? That's as it's meant to be. Another thing with the unique identifiers is they're designed to be aggregated, right? That's why if you scan the container code, you can know all the pallets in it. If you scan the pallet code, you can know all the carton within that pallet. If you scan a carton code, you can know all the unit packs within that carton. And then there's also the reverse of that as well. When you are taking it out, you can disaggregate. All of this event data are also captured.

[00:30:19] And immediately, because the model, the infrastructure is connected to the national repository, all of those event data has also been reported to the government in real time, right? So this gives outright visibility into everything that has happened and transparency into everything that is happening across events of the product. Now, the final layer would then be payments, right? So because as the products are moving across, again, from the logistics perspective, when the product is being received by the warehouse and they scan it to indicate that it's received,

[00:30:48] you can also automate payments to happen, right? Once the invoice is raised, payments can also happen immediately as well. So you kind of have it like the concessors where that indicates that once the product is received, you know, payment is dispersed. But in that same payment as well, you can automate VAT collection for the government because government is able to capture that event data. They know exactly what event happened. And as a result, they can automatically capture the value of the item and estimate the VAT and take that VAT out of that payment

[00:31:17] before it's been settled into the account that it's designated for, you know? So all of that process can be automated significantly, which would, one, increase revenue from the government perspective, two, increase efficiency for the businesses, right? In their operations and their transparency, increase super efficiency for them because now they can optimize their processes and then thirdly, one of the things that we do as a business is we leverage AI to then capture all of this event data through our process mining AI

[00:31:46] to generate insights about, you know, potential bottlenecks that we can predict potential bottlenecks, right? Where you can expect delays in your delivery time, where you can expect things to go smoothly before they happen, right? Because we've already captured all the patterns of things that are happening typically in the supply chain based on all this event data that we're capturing. So that way, we've been able to increase efficiency for businesses by 30 times what they were able to do initially without it, right?

[00:32:15] So those are like the different layers that infrastructure for traceability can provide across logistics and payments and transparency and even operational efficiency. You highlighted the increase in revenue efficiency and also insights. I was wondering typically what the return on investment that manufacturers would see from integrating CheckIt into their supply chains? Yeah. So, you know, across board,

[00:32:45] when you look at it for manufacturers, one of the key things that they are looking for are primarily insights, right? They need to know where their products end up, how many homes actually buy these products. When you look at developed markets as well, they are also not having an idea beyond the retail points, you know, who is buying their products, how they use their products and things like that.

[00:33:12] Talk less of the emerging markets, right? So the key return on investment for a lot of the manufacturers that we work with is insights around the last mile data. Where does the product end up? Who is buying their products? Where are they buying it the most? You know, is it from trade markets, trade shows? Is it from supermarkets, pharmacies? Or is it from open markets? Is it from Kiox on the roadside? You know, is it from traffic?

[00:33:43] You know, and the likes, right? So they need to know exactly where their consumers are buying from. That's one key return on investment. Another return on investment, which now becomes very interesting, is supply chain insights, right? Which basically is, what is the sort of product journey like? You know, when the products are handed over to distributors, how and when does it get to inventory

[00:34:11] to wholesalers? As well as, what is the inventory stock like, right? How many stock are they holding at every point in time? At the retail points, at the wholesale points, and when are they running out of stock? You know, those insights are very particular to manufacturers because all of this helps them with their planning, right? With their planning for production ahead of time, it helps them to reduce waste, right? So reduce chances of overproduction

[00:34:41] or reduce chances of them having things like scarcity in the market, which is underproduction as a result of not even knowing exactly what demand is like. You know, oftentimes they work with estimates of demand based on what they are supplying their distributors. But being able to actually estimate the demand from the point of view of the last mile, you know, gives clearer visibility, gives much more accurate efficiency to production,

[00:35:10] to research and development as well in terms of what consumers are keen about in terms of innovating on the product as well. It gives them clearer understanding and this is like the return on investment that these brands look at. Overall, based on all of this data, they are able to identify, you know, areas, opportunities to increase revenue, to increase use of their service as well. And then also, when you look at it, a lot of the brands

[00:35:40] also like to run, especially on the FMCG side, like to run promotions, marketing promotions and the likes. And, you know, being able to run these marketing promotions using these unique identifiers also gives them a clear idea of, you know, the impact that this promotion actually has on their business. Instead of just running promotions and, you know, only looking at it from the bottom line perspective of did I increase my revenue during this promotion time, it's better to dead clearly understand, you know, what are the channels

[00:36:09] that are taking off on these promotions larger? What are the new market opportunities that I wasn't seeing before? We've seen manufacturers that actually were able to discover new markets in terms of their states in Nigeria where, you know, there's a lot of demand for their products primarily because they were running a promo and they were tracking the promo at wholesale level and retail level, you know, you know, so those are like part of the insights that they're able to capture which becomes

[00:36:39] return on investments for them. It's clear that you offer quite a lot in terms of product and value, increased revenue, efficiency, insights, but what kind of partnerships have been most critical for you to achieve and being able to offer all of this? Yeah, so primarily from a technology standpoint, we are very robust internally. The kind of team that we put together as well, super intelligent guys

[00:37:08] on the engineering side as well as on the commercials. We not look at it from outside of the organizations to the kind of infrastructural partnerships that we look out for and that we engage with. Of course, our key customers are FMC Jam pharmaceutical brands, but to serve them we sometimes work with telcos for the authentication from the US as a standpoint, but we also work very closely with regulators. Right.

[00:37:38] So we were actually the first to get licensed for GS1 traceability in Nigeria back in 2023. Oh, wow. So beyond the local regulation, for us as a business, as a company, it's important to think about skill internationally and for that to happen, it's necessary to look at it from a point of view of what is that standard that cuts across multiple countries, multiple regions, that also cuts across multiple stakeholders that enables interoperability of systems

[00:38:07] since we play heavily in the enterprise market. And that's where global standards comes in, right? So global standard 1, which is short form, short form is GS1. They are present in over 100 countries globally, which already creates like a reason for several countries in Africa to go in that direction of adopting that standard as a framework for the policy that it creates around traceability. We have three African countries,

[00:38:36] Nigeria now being the fourth to have mandated GS1 traceability policy on drugs, primarily, that's on pharmaceutical products. And then we are seeing the same thing on food as well. In the Middle East, across the Gulf region, it has also become a global standard within that region. So GS1 is basically the standard responsible for barcodes on products, right? So every barcode you see on the product follows the GS1 standard, right? Now, then the GS1 also has a framework

[00:39:06] for serial codes or basically serial barcodes. So serial barcodes, which is one of the key things that we offer as in terms of serialization, we follow the GS1 standards, which is what makes it easy for us to have, you know, be able to adopt our solution into Nigeria's new policy framework around GS1 standards for pharmaceuticals. So this way, these standards allows, you know, easy interoperability with systems, allows importers

[00:39:36] or manufacturers, multinationals that are bringing their product from other markets into the country to be able to share the data of their products with the government, right? Because they're also leveraging the same standards in their own countries and in multiple countries where they export their products to. So these are very important partnerships. This, you know, in terms of the regulatory framework for products, unique identifiers, also enables, you know, broader partnership with other players in the sector, in this space, you know? So when you look at it from a point of view

[00:40:05] of e-commerce platforms like Amazon, for instance, Amazon is also leveraging unique identifiers frameworks for trading the markets where they are trading in. And Amazon also has, you know, these systems where they leverage unique identifiers to prevent, you know, fake products or fraudulent resellers from uploading products into their framework. And because we also leverage this GS1 standard, we're able to work with manufacturers that are selling on Amazon

[00:40:34] to transfer their serial code into the Amazon network. So this, you know, global standard creates opportunities for interoperability and business expansion, right? Another key partnership would be, for us, is integrations that we have with multiple inventory and ERP solution providers. So this way, we distribute our platform, our infrastructure into existing systems that a lot of our customers already use and allow them

[00:41:04] to easily find check-its as an infrastructure to help them have, you know, visibility into the codes, into interpreting the serial codes that their system may be engaging with, right? Or may have to engage with and to then help their system become much more efficient in their processes, in their operations. So those are, like, the key partnerships that we see and that we've leveraged for growth and we continue to leverage for growth. Fantastic.

[00:41:34] You work closely with government, but I was wondering, have you faced any resistance from industries or players who are unwilling to digitize their supply chains? Yes. I mean, that's definitely something that even the government is currently battling with. So what you see with manufacturers in regions like Nigeria, where the regulation is now a standard, it's a requirement,

[00:42:02] even if the Gazette was done in October last year, now the government did have a pilot, a one-year pilot last year on narcotics. That's NAVDAQ. And now the government is shifting from narcotics to including maternal and child care products to make sure that, you know, so this would be anti-malaria, antibiotics, and the likes, which basically is a much broader product spectrum that most manufacturers

[00:42:32] cover based on the demand for the services for these products in the country. So this is involving a lot of the manufacturers locally, right? But the challenge is that for more multinationals, it's quite straightforward because in some cases most of the manufacturers already serialize for the markets where it is mandatory for them to serialize for. So these would be markets in America, Europe, and some part of Asia, right, where it's already mandated and they would serialize

[00:43:02] following the standard that those regions require. So the US, Europe, both would use the GS1 standard, China has their own standard, but, you know, the most common is GS1 globally, right? So most manufacturers just go for GS1 first and then look at other serialization framework for markets where they have good business like China as well. But for Africa, you know, the thing is because, you know,

[00:43:31] the regulations have not been a thing for decades and the likes, you know, a lot of manufacturers when they produce, I'm talking about multinational manufacturers now, when they produce for Africa, they don't bother to serialize, right? They go with, they go with a pack that's, you know, is just required by the FDAs generally within those markets to kind of ask work that is required and it was basically supplied to this market. So that's why they call the dump, so to say.

[00:44:01] They just sort of produce packs that all look alike without serial codes on them or just a regular backcode that only identifies the products but not unique identifiers that identifies each pack, right? So that's what we've seen for decades. But now that the regulations are shifting on the continent, we have four countries now but we have like 20 countries at various stages of doing the same, right? Of mandating GS1's organization within your own countries.

[00:44:31] You know, so now you're seeing manufacturers begin to think that, multinational manufacturers and now multinational manufacturers are now working with partners, solution providers like CheckIt to send serial code information into those different country repositories as, you know, a one-to-many relationship. So CheckIt takes the serial code from the manufacturer, from the multinational manufacturer, which they've printed on their products already, and then sends it into the government repository

[00:45:00] before the products arise physically, right? So for those multinationals, it's a bit straightforward and because they already understand the cost of it that they do, so it's not a huge cost to not do it for the emerging markets that are now beginning to require it. But when you now look at the local manufacturers, that's where the huge challenge is for them because they already developed their factories, their production line systems without thinking about implementing serialization

[00:45:30] on their products. So the policies really takes a hit on them because now they have to now think about how do I reconstruct my production line and how do I invest in serialization machines because serialization machines are quite expensive. They could be ranging from $100,000 to $500,000 per production line, right? A manufacturer could have 12 production lines, would have six production lines, depending on what scale they're producing at. So when you look at it from the local manufacturer

[00:46:00] perspective, it's quite expensive, right? Especially when you look at it from a dollar perspective in Nigeria with the devaluation of the currency over the last one to two years. So when you look at the multiple, it's a lot for the manufacturers to take on, which is why you see them pushing back on the regulation. So that's kind of difficulties that we see. But how we solve that problem is that we, and first of all, before I

[00:46:30] talk about how we solve it, one of the things that the manufacturers are now open to and they are doing heavily with solution providers in the market is using the option of sticker labels. So because the manufacturers are already used with the mobile authentication scheme, which is a scratch of labels, which they are already used to using those kind of labels, so it's kind of easy for them to adopt sticker labels as well for serialization, right? For this serial back goods on going on products. So they

[00:46:59] go for the idea of, give us sticker labels, we apply it just like we used to apply the mobile authentication scratch-off labels on our products. However, what we've seen, and we've also complained from them on, is that it has reduced or slowed down their time to market. So it gives them challenges around their time to market, which slows down their operation in general, because now they have to apply these labels by

[00:47:28] hand or even with semi-automatic machines and the likes, but it still slows down their process, right? Because it's not at the rate at which their packs are being produced typically. So that's where we see the challenges. What we've done to solve that problem is that we are providing serialization machines that from serializing on the unit packs to aggregation machines, that's taking the unit packs into cartons, aggregating the code by scanning

[00:47:57] and then putting that into the carton code and pilotization machine. The entire bunch, we've been able to push them out on a lease basis from the manufacturers, which means you only pay for what you use when you need them and not have to worry about maintenance costs over time for these machines. So typically what we look at is instead of having to sell this machines for tens to hundreds of thousands of

[00:48:27] dollars to manufacturers, we can rent them on a monthly basis for between $2,000 to $3,000 per month for what they need in that period of time. So they only use what they need at that period of time and don't have to pay for more than what they need. And we've designed the machines to easily roll into production lines, fitting at line, at line meaning that it is post production. the serial codes, and this is a serial code being printed

[00:48:57] directly on the pack, so not sticker levels in this instance, it's serial codes being printed directly on the pack at up to 200 packs per minute speed, which is the average or largest fastest speed that you see with the most high-tech production line conveyor belt system. so these machines run with the checking software. So it's a precision serialization system, right, where we're

[00:49:27] printing directly on the packs, there are cameras and sensors to check with machine learning to check if the serial codes are well printed on the pack, which is a rejection system to make sure that only well-printed serial codes on packs are actually passed on and the ones that are not well-printed are rejected and the serial codes are reused. you know, that kind of system is what we've designed for rent for a lot of these local manufacturers to make it much easier for them to adopt traceability

[00:49:57] in the conditions that they have to in the market. Fantastic. So you've touched on the new and current trends that you're seeing in manufacturing for increased traceability. So if we move from, I guess, the current trends and look to the future, if we revisit this conversation in say five, ten years from now, what do you hope would have been achieved with regards to supply chain transparency within Africa, whether it's

[00:50:26] manufacturing or the e-commerce space? Yeah, great question. So I'll say within manufacturing in Africa, first of all, would be to see that, you know, there are 54 countries in Africa. You know, it would be to see that at least 25 to 30 percent of the countries have serialization standards, policies, enforced within their own countries, right? Have it as a policy within their countries, preferably GS1,

[00:50:56] right? So it's, you know, for cross-border trade to be much more efficient and easier, you know, having all of these countries go with the same sort of standard or using the GS1 standard would be the perfect scenario, would be what I hope to see when we revere this conversation from that point of view. Because that would naturally enforce the manufacturers within that network, within the space, to also serialize their products.

[00:51:26] So we'll be saying, you know, every product carrying a serial code, from pharmaceuticals to consumer goods, right? To food and beverages. At least, even if it's primarily only drugs, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, that are the focus within that period, I think that would be a huge win because that would significantly reduce the number of deaths that are happening. So currently we have over 500,000 deaths happening yearly, according to WHO,

[00:51:55] as a result of thick and falsified and substandard medicine coming into the continent, right? So that number would have reduced significantly by 70 to 80% if this is the case across, you know, 30 to 25% of the countries on the continent, right? So that's one. The second thing would now be to have these unique identifiers as a norm for all products, so beyond just the consumables

[00:52:23] that we ingest into our system to also, you know, the apparel, the agricultural products that we exported from the continent or that we're producing, that we're using, you know, running in production locally as well, to also have this realisation system embedded within them to improve traceability, to improve climate situation tracking as well, to improve

[00:52:53] visibility on the supply chain as a whole, you know, to have it across all the different sectors from agro sector, even to the textile sector, to the cosmetics, to the luxury goods as well, because, you know, when you look at the developed world or countries like you have in the European Union, they are currently pushing for digital product passports by 2030. What that means is that every product

[00:53:23] would have a unique identifier, you know, from batteries to cosmetics to everything would have a unique identifier before they can trade in that European Union sector. The same thing in the US, right? You know, being able to see that happen in the continent in Africa would also be awesome to have that kind of policy in place. It might not be 2030, it might be 2050, but, you know, being able to see that also come to play, where it cascades beyond just, you know, those areas

[00:53:52] of products that are harmful to the body to even products that are just, you know, designed for aesthetics, right? You know, that would also be very, very key, very important. And I think lastly, from the e-commerce or general commerce, digital commerce perspective, is to see systems, payment systems, you know, leverage product identifiers for capturing value, you know, for payments purpose, for transactions tracking,

[00:54:22] for even VAT processing, automate the entire processing value supply chain with unique identifiers to create efficiency across the entire, across systems, because that would largely remove things like corruption, you know, it would be very difficult to cheat the system, so it would naturally remove things like corruption, you know, it would remove things like, you know, not being accountable for things that are happening within the systems of the country, from the government perspective,

[00:54:52] but even from the commercial perspective as well, it would naturally enable easier payments to happen, right? It would easily enable everyone, especially when you then add USSD on top of this for offline access, for the rural areas where, you know, you have unbanked folks, you know, and you have people able to make USSD payments via unique identifiers of product. It creates a whole new dynamics towards fintech, towards e-commerce in general, and creates, you know,

[00:55:22] new potential for the market, even still beyond expectations that we have today. So those are my thoughts. Fantastic. So if we look closer to home, what's your vision for Checkit over the next five years, especially in terms of expanding across African markets? Yeah, yeah. So following the, you know, the push on the regulatory standpoint, we see Checkit spanning across multiple African countries, 10 to 20

[00:55:52] African countries in terms of providing serialization and providing supply chain efficiency over those markets. In addition to tracking billions of codes per year, right, for brands within those markets, you know, as a market leader, you know, being able to control up to like 30% market share across the continent would really be our target to see ourselves as a market

[00:56:21] leader within this space and driving this future innovation for the continents, driving the continent forward on the commerce side of things, digital commerce, e-commerce and safeguarding lives, right, and securing industries as a whole. That's really the vision for us and be able to tell the journey, the product story for the product journey as it moves along the supply chain, transforming products into stories of trust. That would really be the goal for us. Quote of the week.

[00:56:51] As people, we often have quotes, mantras, African proverbs or affirmations that keep us going when times are challenging or when times are good. Do you have one that you can share with us today? That's an interesting one. I mean, there are very popular ones that I could say, which is, if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. Definitely. Right. I think that's, I really agree with that, with that mindset as an African proverb. I think that's something that's really

[00:57:21] superb about us, but it really takes a village, right? Because it really takes a village to get things to that really global scale that we need them to be at. Yeah, I think I'll just go with that. Fantastic. Brilliant way to end today's fantastic conversation. It's been a pleasure having you on the podcast and also hearing how you're bridging the gap between technology, trust and transparency in African commerce industry. And I'm also looking forward

[00:57:51] to see how Chekka continues to grow and also play a part in shaping the future of e-commerce and also sort of play chain transparency on the continent. So, Dare, fantastic. Thank you for joining us on the podcast today and sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience. Awesome. Awesome. Thank you so much for having me, Tessa. It was really nice to be here. Thank you to everyone who has listened and stayed tuned to the podcast. If you've enjoyed this

[00:58:21] episode, please subscribe, share or tell a friend about it. You can also rate, review us in Apple Podcasts or wherever you download your podcast. Thank you and see you next week for the Unlocking Africa podcast. podcast.