How Chekkit Plans to Strengthen Saudi Arabia’s Pharma Supply Chain

In this week's interview, we sit down with Dare Odumade, Founder and CEO of Chekkit, as they prepare to expand their blockchain-powered supply chain security solution into Saudi Arabia.

With over 200 million products tracked for more than 100 brands including SC Johnson, Merck KGAa, Golden Penny and Nivea, as well as a successful partnership with the Nigerian government Food and Drug Agency as a key implementer of traceability initiatives, Chekkit is well-positioned to support Saudi Arabia's implementation of GS1 traceability standards.

The company is tackling a $300B market loss across the Middle East and Africa due to counterfeit goods. Their solution leverages cryptographic GS1 serial product barcodes to create AI-powered digital twins of supply chains, providing real-time intelligence, analytics, and ROI tracking. With fake pharmaceuticals accounting for 10% of the global medicine market and causing an estimated 500,000 deaths annually in Africa alone, their work is not just transforming supply chains – it's saving lives.

Strategic Market Entry 🚀

Adaverse: Chekkit landed its first client within 2 months of launching. How did you achieve such rapid market penetration despite having multiple technical components?

Dare: Before incorporation, we spent a year conducting extensive market research, engaging with businesses and consumers to understand their needs. As a UI/UX designer, I created clickable prototypes to test different interfaces without writing code. This preparation allowed us to pivot from our initial idea of a distribution platform to focus on authentication and launch within two months of incorporating. Interestingly, our first customer was an FMCG company rather than a pharmaceutical one, as we discovered the challenges of customer loyalty and data collection were universal across industries.

Dare Odumade, CEO of Chekkit

Innovation in Authentication 💡

Adaverse: How did you differentiate yourself from established competitors in the authentication space?

Dare: When we entered the market, established players had been operating for about a decade and had shaped regulatory policies. Rather than compete directly, we innovated in two key ways. First, we used USSD instead of the standard SMS verification, making our service more real-time. Second, we expanded authentication to include expiry dates and batch numbers, making the system more valuable for both manufacturers in terms of recalls and consumers.

We also introduced consumer feedback functionality, allowing brands to gather product performance insights. Instead of competing in heavily regulated antibiotics and anti-malaria segments, we focused on less regulated categories like anti-diabetics and supplements. This strategic approach helped us establish our presence while avoiding immediate regulatory barriers, and eventually led to constructive engagement with regulators.

Navigating Regulated Markets 💊

Adaverse: What's your advice for entrepreneurs trying to break into highly regulated industries?

Dare: First, thoroughly understand existing regulations and find innovative ways to operate within or around them. Personal presence is crucial - industry events have given us a 30% conversion rate, compared to just 3% from cold outreach. Leverage the founder’s network.

Consider starting in less regulated segments of your industry. When we launched, instead of competing in heavily regulated antibiotics markets, we focused on supplements and anti-diabetics where barriers were lower. This allowed us to build credibility before expanding.

Sometimes, you need to create your own category. By offering advanced features like USSD verification and consumer feedback, we differentiated ourselves from traditional authentication services. For startups with limited resources, consider partnering with established players - in fintech, for example, integrating with licensed institutions can be more practical than pursuing expensive licenses immediately.

Blockchain Innovation ⛓️

Adaverse: How does blockchain technology enhance your authentication solution?

Dare: Blockchain serves multiple critical functions in our system. We developed cryptographic unique identifiers for each product, making replication nearly impossible. Key events throughout the supply chain are logged on the blockchain, ensuring data immutability and preventing internal tampering. Additionally, our loyalty and reward system uses blockchain to enable dynamic customer engagement campaigns, with rewards often distributed in stablecoins that can be redeemed globally through platforms like Apple Pay and Google Wallet.

Adaverse: Why did you choose to build on Cardano specifically?

Dare: We initially built on Fantom for its high transaction capacity, but Cardano offered better enterprise trust and flexibility. The pay-per-use model fits our tenancy model and allows businesses to choose when to log data on-chain, making it more cost-effective. Of course, Adaverse's investment also influenced our decision.

Expansion into Saudi Arabia 🇸🇦

Adaverse: Your expansion plans prioritize Saudi Arabia. How will your experience working with the Nigerian government translate to opportunities in the Kingdom?

Dare: Our role as a key implementer of traceability initiatives in Nigeria, Rwanda and a committee member of the Global Health Community on supply chain product verification and traceability initiatives has given us valuable experience in working with government stakeholders and implementing national-scale infrastructure solutions. Saudi Arabia represents a strategic opportunity as they lead the Gulf region in implementing traceability standards. Our market analysis shows local companies are already utilizing advanced track-and-trace technology to improve operations and boost business outputs, indicating the market's maturity and readiness for our solution.

What's particularly interesting is how Saudi companies are integrating serialization codes into their broader supply chain operations. This aligns perfectly with our experience in Nigeria, where we're successfully implementing similar systems at scale in the public and private sectors. Our approach is to be proactive – establishing a presence before traceability regulations are fully enforced and positioning ourselves as trusted partners for both government and manufacturers/Importers adapting to new compliance requirements.

We're also leveraging synergies with India, a major pharmaceutical supplier to Nigeria which is seeking to increase to Saudi Arabia. About 70% of pharmaceuticals consumed in Nigeria come from India, and many Middle Eastern suppliers also source from India and Pakistan. This creates an interesting triangle of opportunities between Africa, the Gulf, and South Asia.

As Saudi Arabia advances its digital transformation initiatives, our proven experience in working with government stakeholders, with stringent regulatory authority and implementing large-scale supply chain traceability solutions positions us uniquely to support this transition while contributing to the Kingdom's vision for a more secure and efficient supply chain ecosystem.