Ashifi Gogo, founder and CEO of Sproxil honored by White House for innovation

Ashifi Gogo, founder and CEO Sproxil

Ghanaian entrepreneur, Ashifi Gogo was on May 29, 2013 honored at a White House ceremony along with other innovators for his contribution in helping create jobs, boosting the U.S. economy and working to “make the world a better place”.

Gogo is the founder and CEO of Sproxil, a Mobile Product Authentication (MPA) company which enables consumers verify the authenticity of prescription drugs before purchase by using a mobile phone and free text message.

Gogo is is one of eleven individuals who are Immigrant Innovator “Champions of Change”, the White House press release stated.

The Sproxil solution combats counterfeits by providing the consumer tools to verify that the prescription drug they have purchased is genuine, through the use of a mobile phone and simple text message.

At point-of-purchase, the consumer scratches a panel on the product which reveals a onetime-use code. The consumer then sends the code using a simple text message on their mobile device to a mobile short code number that has been provided. Within moments, a response is dispatched the Sproxil cloud-based platform indicating the genuineness or otherwise of the item being authenticated.

The tool can be used to authenticate a variety of products, however, the primary focus has been to provide services to areas that are most vulnerable to counterfeit drugs, in particular, Asia and Africa.

Earlier this year, the Sproxil MPA solution was named a recipient of the US Department of Commerce’s ‘Patents for Humanity’ Award. Fast Company Magazine has ranked Sproxil as the Seventh Most Innovative Company in the World.