“We have a dream that one day we would end malaria for good.”

Another World Malaria Day has come and a theme has been set to “end malaria for good.” While this theme is very appropriate for this year given all the achievements made, we all still need to be more proactive in making it happen so this goal does not fall under the wishful thinking category. Malaria is a disease that has plagued different parts of the world for far too long and is proving stubborn to leave.

There has however been strength in numbers which is the reason why the fight against malaria has progressed to the point that it currently is at. Partnerships, collaborations and valuable investments have been made towards fighting this plague which has resulted in a 60 percent decrease in malaria mortality in the last 15 years. [World Malaria Day website]

Private-Public Partnerships have played a key role in making this happen. Awareness about the disease has been generated, preventive health methods have been communicated, drugs have been made available and technology has played a role in protecting these drugs from counterfeiting. Great progress has been made but we have to build on existing efforts and step up our activities. More awareness needs to be created on preventive methods, authentic drug supply needs to increase as well. Collaborations across other industries that could potentially offer a helping hand to eradicate this disease need to be explored. We need to keep fighting to build on the work that has been done and look for ways to improve our activities. With the right partnerships, we can turn our dream of ending malaria into a reality.

What ideas do you have to fight this plague that is Malaria? Share them with us in the comments and let us collaborate to fight this disease.

Supply chain vulnerability is an issue plaguing many businesses in today’s world. Some have figured out some creative solutions to their problems and some are still loosing valuable business because of how vulnerable their supply chains are. What is supply chain vulnerability anyway? It is the point of weakness in your supply chain network that causes your business to decline in growth due to inefficient business operations. Supply chain vulnerability results in issues like theft, illegal product diversion, fraudulent activities and parallel importation of your products. These issues affect the way your business is likely to operate going forward. Some effects are seen immediately and some are long-term. Here are some issues they may result when your supply chain is compromised.

Effects of Supply Chain Vulnerability

• Prevent Lower sales growth
• Prevent Growth in Cost
• Prevent Reduced operating income
• Prevent brand image erosion

Sales Growth 

When products are stolen from your supply chain, it may or may not impact your business immediately because depending on the volumes you are handling, some theft is easier to write off as defected products. When the theft is consistent over a period of time with varying amounts, it affects the estimated growth of sales the company was anticipating and therefore stifles the company’s growth.

Cost Growth

The higher the theft rate, the higher your cost rate. The cost your company uses to purchase raw materials will not match the bottom line because products are being stolen consistently. Therefore the lack of traceability within your supply chain will cost you more.

Reduced Operating Income

This ties in to the previous points on sales growth and cost growth. The income expected due to business operations is reduced as a result of a defect in your supply chain.

Brand Image

If your business is not efficient at meeting your consumers needs then this reflects on your overall brand. This can be caused by an inefficient supply chain. If products are being diverted and the accounted for demand is not matching the supply, then it creates problems in your operations.

There have been many technological solutions developed to handle this issue for companies of all sizes. Track and Trace solutions being the most popular of them. Sproxil has a product called the Sproxil Informer, which helps businesses optimize their current supply chains. This is done by helping brands secure and monitor their global supply chains, from the manufacturer through the warehouse to the retailer and all points in-between, with optional consumer engagement to provide true end-to-end security.

To learn more, contact us at team@sproxil.com

Customer expectations have evolved in more recent years. The more educated your customer is, the more expectations they have of your brand. Companies no longer have the luxury of hiding behind a generic brand message. They can no longer over promise, under deliver and not face the consequences of their actions. Consumers are reading, cross checking and peer reviewing so it is only natural that their level of expectations are more sophisticated than before. How do brands catch up? How does your brand know what customer expectations are?

4 Basic Customer Expectations

• Transparency
  What you have is what you should sell. No matter what your competitors are selling, do not try to over promise and under deliver. It backfires on your brand. Clearly state your accurate delivery dates, be transparent about the amount of products you have available to avoid running out of stock. This creates a culture of trust with you and your customers. It builds a base of loyal customers who will always support your brand and defend it when necessary.
• Personalization
  Don’t you hate it when you get a very generic message that seems like it was forwarded to a million people without you in mind? That is exactly how your customers feel. If you run a Sproxil Champion campaign for your brand, it is important that when reaching out to these customers again, you send relevant messaging. You may not be able to gather everyone’s name but there should be a common theme with the group of people you are sending information out to. Targeted messaging is the new way to market in today’s world.

• Flexibility
  As a brand, you may sometimes need to consider flexibility over efficiency when dealing with customers. Customers expect efficiency in all your processes yes! but they also expect that you may customize your processes to fit their needs. This still ties into personalization. Your brand must be flexible enough to handle their demands as they come up with reasonable dealings.

• Light but Constant ContactCustomers will never tell you that they want to constantly hear from you. They however do. It may not be in an aggressive way but in subtle non-intrusive ways. As long as the information you intend to provide is relevant, you should engage with customers beyond the point of purchase. This would also be a great medium to inform people of updates to your products and services. These light contact points also translate to increase in sales as you stay top of mind with your consumers. Bi-weekly text messages containing useful tips sent through the Sproxil Champion platform is an example of how to stay in touch. You can also target them through social media.

Customer expectations are increasing these days and Sproxil is listening and assisting businesses implement these expectations in their business processes. Talk to us and let us work with you to take your business processes to the next level. Send an email to team@sproxil.com or ng.sales@sproxil.com

If you have been paying attention to the news, you would have noticed the growing problem of the market of counterfeit drugs in Pakistan. The issue is a complex one as it involves several layers of corruption. These layers range from the lucrative industry of the actual counterfeit drugs to the fake dentists and doctors that prescribe and sell these drugs to the unsuspecting individuals. [Source: Al Jazeera]
In 2012, Sproxil wrote a blog post that talked about the issues of substandard drugs in Pakistan. There was a case of counterfeit cardiac medication being dispensed that led to hundreds of casualties in Pakistan.  Fast forward to 2015, and Sproxil launched operations in Pakistan in response to the growing demand of consumers who wanted assurance that the products they purchased were genuine.

Recently, Sproxil has taken even more strides to connect with key stakeholders in Pakistan and one of such recent meetings was with Imran Khan. Imran Khan is a Pakistani Politician who is also a philanthropist, a cricket commentator amongst other things. In 2012, he was ranked the third on the list of the top nine world leaders by Global Post. He has also received prestigious awards from the Asia Society, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, Asian Sports Awards and a host of others.

With the discussions had with Imran Khan, we hope to expand our presence in Pakistan to key organizations that need our services so we can work together to eradicate Counterfeit drugs in Pakistan. We also hope to work with the appropriate authorities to minimize the level of corruption in the system through the technology that we have. If you live in Pakistan, look out for the Sproxil labels on your pharmaceutical products and be sure to scratch, text and verify the product you are about to consume to prevent counterfeiting.

 

If you have questions or concerns or would like to reach us to protect your products, contact us using the methods below.

How do you improve productivity and simplify supply chain management in today’s world? The simple answer is technology. The complex answer is the method of technology application. Supply chain management involves effectively coordinating a network of people and processes. This ensures that the product travels from the manufacturer to the end user for who it was intended. If the process is disrupted through theft, inefficient management of resources and even lack of productivity, this causes problems for the company. The bottom line is disrupted, consumers lose trust and human resources in that economy are affected. If your company is facing issues of theft, productivity and efficient processes in it’s supply chain, the time to start exploring technological solutions to this problem is now.
These days, consumers are more aware and educated in general about their purchases. Logistics companies have made this process more transparent. They have streamlined the serialization process which enables consumers track their orders. This improves communication from the retailer to the consumer and overall the communication across the supply chain.

Three ways Technology can improve supply chain management

Information management improves

From the manufacturers to the end consumers, everyone has adequate information about what is going on with their orders. In the case of counterfeit products, using the Sproxil Informer, manufacturers are able to decipher when their products have been stolen. They can also detect when counterfeiters are intercepting their supply chain.

Provides Insight

This information gathered as raw data can be analyzed for future processes. For example, If it takes three weeks to deliver to a new location due to regulation, this information is harnessed by the supply chain manager. This enables them plan ahead for the next order to that location.

Compliance

Depending on the country your business operates, there are serialization laws you must comply with. Serialization technology not only allows for flexible tracking, information management and insights but also compliance with regulatory bodies.

Technology collects valuable market data that can be analyzed to drive marketing strategies, target consumers based on purchasing trends, and monitor any instances of counterfeiting or theft in addition to things mentioned above. The Sproxil Informer is an easy technology to integrate into your current supply chain with it’s amazing features. Contact Us for more details about it.

Andy Stanley said “Leadership is all about taking people on a journey. The challenge is that most of the time, we are asking people to follow us to places we ourselves have never been.”
This quote reads true for us at Sproxil Nigeria. In February 2nd 2010, Sproxil Nigeria signed a deal to launch a Mobile Authentication System. This system was designed to combat the problem of counterfeit drugs in Nigeria. This technology is installed through a label attached to the packaging of the drugs. Consumers scratch the panel on the label and text a unique identifier to a short code and the drug is verified as genuine or fake.

This was and still is the value proposition Sproxil came armed with as we penetrated a market that was not explored. The unknown was frightening given the previous lessons learned from the initial pilot idea of solutions for organic foods. This did not deter us as a company as the spirit of excellence and resilience has been imbibed into our core. Sproxil, through the leadership of Ashifi Gogo and a strong team, explored creative ways to take the plunge into the unknown regardless of the risks ahead.

Our strategic partnership approach was one of the best decisions we made as a company. Sproxil has always carefully selected partners to work with to move the vision forward. From NGOs to Private Organizations to Governmental Organizations, each partner has been instrumental in the success of Sproxil Nigeria. Governmental agencies like NAFDAC under the leadership of Dr Paul Orhiri helped make the transition into the unknown a smoother process. The localization of a global brand became a possibility through these key stakeholders. Six years later, we would like to say Thank you to everyone for believing in us. Thank you to everyone for helping us get to 12 million plus Nigerian verifications using the Sproxil label. Without your help, we would not have been able to explore the unknown with ease.

As we look forward to continually expanding the brand;

• We hope to innovate upon the ideas we have.
• Explore new markets and industries.
• Strengthen our strategic partnership approach at Sproxil Nigeria under the leadership of our Managing Director, Chinedum Chijioke and the strong team we have at Sproxil Nigeria.

Congratulations to everyone as we all made this possible!

Happy New Year from Sproxil! Sproxil has some exciting changes for the upcoming year, and in this post, we would like to highlight our new Management Team.
After six years of work as our CFO and Strategist, Alden Zecha has taken an academic position at Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business. For the next year, Alden will be the first Executive-in-Residence at their Center for the Advancement of Social Entrepreneurship (CASE). As the Executive-in-Residence, Alden will be mentoring Fuqua students and contributing to CASE initiatives. You can watch his CASE Chat on trends in social entrepreneurship, scaling, and the significance of relationships with investors here. Alden will still remain with Sproxil as one of our Directors.

Sproxil’s new Management Team consists of six managers with diverse backgrounds, including experience in government, technology, big business, and small business.

Ashifi Gogo founded Sproxil in 2009 and serves as our CEO. As a result of Ashifi’s leadership, Sproxil developed its award-winning Sproxil Defender™ technology that consumers use around the world to verify product authenticity.

Laurence Huntley is Sproxil’s Vice President of Global Growth, overseeing our expansion efforts, identifying reseller relationships and managing growth goals around the world.

Jennifer Campos is our Director of Service Innovation, which includes directing global operations, designing and developing new service offerings, enhancing implementation options, ensuring client satisfaction and championing quality assurance.

Christopher Chase is Sproxil’s Software Engineer, managing Sproxil’s cloud architecture, information security management systems, developing security and verification software and overseeing technical projects.

Gregory Lavoie is our Global Finance Director, responsible for all accounting and finance functions at Sproxil, Inc. and directing a global finance team for Sproxil’s subsidiaries around the world.

 

 

 

 

 

Charles Zamora is Sproxil’s Director of Global Talent and Administration, which includes overseeing our corporate talent and administrative matters in the U.S. and providing support across all of our operating countries.

To learn more about our Management Team, Directors, and Advisors, click here.