Ashifi Gogo: a fresh way to fight counterfeit drugs
Fake drugs are a deadly and longstanding problem in Africa.
One way to address it is through the high level of mobile-
phone ownership in Africa (as high as 80% in some West
African countries). Users simply text a code on medicine
containers to a free number to confirm authenticity.
This approach was pioneered in 2009 by Ashifi Gogo, a
Ghanaian student and founder of Sproxil, one of the main
providers of authentication services in Africa. Employed
initially in West Africa, Sproxil’s products are now used in five
countries across three continents. Sproxil won the 2010 IBM
SmartCamp Boston Award and the 2009 Clinton Global
Initiative Outstanding Commitment Award, while Gogo
himself won the Social Entrepreneur of the Year award from
the Schwab Foundation in 2014.