Your products arrive. So do copies of them.
Give every unit you ship a signed code your buyers can verify in one scan, find out where stock is being diverted, and put someone on the ground when you need proof rather than suspicion.
250 free codes to pilot · from $0.01 per code · billed in US dollars
Counterfeiting moved closer to your customer
Exporters tend to picture counterfeits as containers stopped at a port. The OECD and EUIPO reported in 2025 that the trade has shifted: counterfeiters increasingly produce close to the destination market, importing packaging, components and labels separately and assembling them near the point of sale. Seizure statistics at the border therefore understate what is on the shelf.
At the same time the volume of goods entering the continent keeps climbing — Chinese exports to Africa alone reached about US$225 billion in 2025, up roughly 26% year on year. More legitimate trade means more packaging in circulation to copy, and more distribution layers between your factory and the person who finally pays.
The practical consequence: the only place left to check authenticity is where the product is bought. That check has to work on a basic smartphone, in a browser, in under a second — and it has to tell you, not just the shopper, what it found.
How it works for an exporter
Five steps, and none of them change your production line.
Add the product and the shipment
Create the product once, then a batch for the consignment you are about to ship.
Set the destination market
Tie the batch to the country it is shipped to, so scans anywhere else are flagged as diversion.
Print at origin
Download print-ready files for your existing label printer or packaging supplier — or generate codes from your own systems over the API.
Buyers verify in one scan
A phone camera opens the verification page in the browser. No app, and it loads on 3G.
Watch the map, then act
Clone and diversion signals, consumer reports and regional hotspots — with our field team available to verify what is actually on the shelf.
What the destination markets already require
Verification is a commercial decision, but it lands in the middle of rules you already have to meet. These are the ones exporters most often discover late.
Kenya: record your trademark before you import
Under section 34B of the Anti-Counterfeit Act, trademarks relating to goods imported into Kenya must be recorded with the Anti-Counterfeit Authority — regardless of where the mark is registered. The requirement has applied to import declarations since 1 January 2023, and importing unrecorded branded goods is an offence.
Nigeria: MAS for high-risk medicines, SONCAP for regulated goods
NAFDAC's Mobile Authentication Service covers categories such as antimalarials and antibiotics, whether imported or made locally, and foreign manufacturers need a registered Nigerian representative. Regulated non-food goods additionally need SONCAP conformity assessment, carried out in the exporting country before shipment.
East Africa: excise stamps are a tax instrument
Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Ghana all require stamps on excisable goods, including imports — Uganda even lets importers apply digital stamps in the country of origin. These prove duty was accounted for. They do not prove the contents are yours, which is the gap a brand-owned code fills.
2027: QR codes become the retail norm
Under GS1's Sunrise 2027 initiative, retail point-of-sale systems worldwide are committing to read 2D barcodes carrying GS1 data alongside traditional linear barcodes. Serialised QR on packaging is becoming standard practice rather than a differentiator.
Data tells you where. We go and look.
Most brand protection vendors sell you a dashboard and leave the hardest part — proving what is actually on the shelf, six thousand kilometres from your head office — entirely to you.
- Market checks in the towns your scan map flags
- Test purchases, documented and photographed
- Evidence packs for your counsel, customs or the regulator
- Help engaging local authorities such as Kenya's Anti-Counterfeit Authority
Our field team operates from Kenya today, and we are explicit about which markets we can cover directly and which we cover through partners — ask us before you buy.
How field intelligence worksWhere to start
Self-serve. 250 free codes, then from $0.01 per code.
Fixed-scope: setup, a compliance checklist for your target country, and a first market check.
Annual contract: recurring market checks, monthly reporting and evidence packs.
How this works in your category
The mechanics differ by product. These guides set out what actually happens, with sources.
Exporter questions
What manufacturers outside Africa ask us before they start.
We are based outside Africa. Can we use VerifyGuard?
Yes — that is what this page is about. Your company can be headquartered anywhere. You create the codes before the goods leave your plant, print them with your existing packaging supplier, and set the African market each batch is shipped to. Billing is in US dollars by card, or on an invoiced contract for larger volumes.
Do we have to change our packaging line or buy hardware?
No. Codes download as print-ready PNG, SVG or ZIP files that go to your existing label printer or packaging supplier. If you already run a serialisation system, our REST API can generate codes directly from it so nothing changes on the line itself.
How do you detect stock diverted into the wrong country?
Each batch can be tied to the country it was shipped to. When a code from that batch is scanned somewhere else, the scan is flagged as a possible parallel import or diversion, and it appears on your map with the location and time. That is usually how brands discover a distributor reselling across a border.
Does this satisfy import requirements like NAFDAC MAS or excise stamps?
No, and you should be wary of any vendor who says otherwise. Government excise stamps are tax instruments, and schemes such as Nigeria's Mobile Authentication Service run through regulator-approved providers. VerifyGuard is a brand-owned layer that runs alongside them: you keep the scan data, the clone and diversion intelligence, and the consumer reports. We can help you map what each destination market requires.
What does the field team actually do?
Scan data tells you where to look; someone still has to go and buy the product. Our team, working from Kenya, runs market checks and test purchases in the areas your scan map highlights, documents what is on the shelf, and packages it as evidence you can give to counsel, customs or a regulator.
How quickly can we run a pilot?
Once your organisation is approved you get 250 free codes, which is enough to label a pilot consignment and see real scans. Most exporters run a pilot on a single product and one destination market, review the first scan map with us, and then scale.
Still have a question? Talk to our team — we usually reply within one business day.
Sources
- OECD/EUIPO — Mapping Global Trade in Fakes 2025 (2025)
- Kenya Anti-Counterfeit Authority — recordation of intellectual property rights for imports (2026)
- NAFDAC — Mobile Authentication Service (MAS) (2026)
- GS1 US — Sunrise 2027: 2D barcodes at retail point of sale (2026)
- China-Global South Project — China–Africa trade rundown 2025 (2025)
Tell us where your products are going
Send us the category, the destination markets and your monthly volume, and we will come back with what a pilot would look like.
Talk to our team