mPedigree, he said, started three years ago in Ghana, since when the social enterprise firm has expanded into three further countries across Africa, largely thanks to the fact that its facilities are stored and operate in the cloud.
"Once you have the IT resources and systems set up in the cloud, it's relatively easy to expand into other countries. For us, the expansion hinges on our deals with local [cellular] telecoms companies", Simons explained.
mPedigree's service, he told Infosecurity, has taken off in Africa, as it allows users of drugs to verify – quickly and easily – whether the drugs they are purchasing are legitimate, and not counterfeit.
According to mPedigree, counterfeit drugs are a major problem in the pharmaceutical industry, and kill almost a million people a year, as well as maim many more, in vulnerable parts of the world.
The scale of the problem is significant, says the firm, and ends up costing the legitimate pharmaceutical companies an estimated $200 million in lost sales every day.
According to Simons, with its cloud data centre operations in London and Germany, mPedigree is able to offer an automated reply to a text messages from the purchaser of a pharmaceutical item within 30 seconds of their texting the embossed code from the drug's packaging.
He went on to say that the telecoms companies have welcomed the arrival of the new service in the African marketplace, as they are a lot more socially inclined than many people realise.
"This is a lighthouse application for the African cellular industry. It adds value to a telecoms company's network and helps to push the price of ordinary voice calls down, which helps everyone", he said.
Infosecurity asked if the service would not operate better if it were a mobile internet application, rather than a basic text message facility.
Simons replied that, since the service is so simple, it will work anywhere there is cellular reception, and does not require a 3G mobile broadband signal. It will, he says, work anywhere there is a GSM signal.
The $200,000 he said, will help mPedigree move into new countries across Africa. Although the company uses cloud computing resources and partners with the relevant cellular telcos in the new countries, he added, it still takes time and money to get the service off the ground.
"The award is great news for us, as it allows to invest in staffing and marketing to get the service off the ground in new countries. We are very grateful to the US Department of Defense for this award, which will be used to help Africans stop the problem of counterfeit pharmaceuticals", he said.