By Yakuta Dawood With the rapid evaluation of trade, the traceability of what we consume or purchase from the global supply chain is mostly concealed. However, thanks to technological advancement and entrepreneurs with great ideas, this matter is now resolving to some greater extent. The Develop It Yourself (DIY) column this week speaks about Tracified, one of the very first Sri Lanka-based traceability solution providers that use blockchain technology intending to enhance the transparency of the supply chain. This technology start-up company was co-founded in 2016 by Uthpalie Thilakaratna and Dileepa Jayathilaka. Reminiscing on how the company started up, Jayathilaka stated that the initial idea occurred when he was working at 99x Technology Ltd. on a fish tracking project from Norway to China through the e-commerce service. “We saw the challenges and what the new values are which we can add through digital technology to a case like that. We then put those ideas together and came up with this product idea of Tracified,” he said. Concurrently, this is when Thilakaratna also joined the project at 99x. Expressing her views during the time of inception, Thilakaratna stated that she was in a personal place where understanding traceability, particularly in the food sector, was very important to her, as she had a younger child at the time. “Jayathilaka and I have known each other for more than 20 years; hence, we had this good understanding and collaboration to think beyond just simple traceability of what it can do for countries and the general public, and also to improve the economy of a country as well. This is the inspiration behind Tracified,” Thilakaratna explained. How did the Sri Lankan market suit such new technology? As mentioned above, Tracified was one of the very first companies to establish in Sri Lanka that was powered by the newest blockchain technology to facilitate a tamper-proof platform to streamline the data flow within a supply chain, using a crypto-economic model. Speaking with regard to this, Jayathilaka stated that Tracified was established during the right time in the industry which was beneficial for them, as it gained a lot of recognition from both local and global clients. According to him, it is because blockchain technology was a very new concept globally as it was recognised as the potential tool to change the world and bring in revolution and disruption to many existing industries, whilst also believing that blockchain would have a similar level of impact on the internet had on the world. When inquired about the challenges that existed when the company was first established, Jayathilaka said that initially, it was to do with solving technical problems that were on their domains with supply chain traceability, as it had a lot of fraud and was controlled by illegit organisations. “What people eat is significantly different from what the label is telling. Tackling this problem using digital technology is far from obvious, so this was the biggest challenge. Today, Tracified solves this global problem to a very satisfactory level,” he mentioned. Likewise, expressing the challenge from the development perspective, Thilakaratna stated that explaining companies in Sri Lanka what blockchain technology is and making them understand the concept was one of the other biggest challenges during the inception, adding: “In Sri Lanka, to bridge that gap was the biggest challenge, to get people to understand the value of it.” However, after the pilot project with Saaraketha Organics, Tracified was able to bridge the gap and transfer the value of traceability with blockchain advancement to the Export Development Board in Sri Lanka (EDB) and the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) to implement it get the geographical indication (GI) certificate for Ceylon cinnamon, which eventually brought value to the Sri Lankan export market. Accordingly, the start-up investment was first made by 99x Technology Ltd. in Sri Lanka and then followed by 360ip Japan, a venture capital firm. What is Tracified today? With the pandemic, the supply catered from e-commerce platforms has exponentially risen; however, consumers may not be aware of the exact product before their purchase as they would know in terms of retail shopping. This is exactly where Tracified comes into play. Commenting on this, Jayathilaka stated that Tracified’s main value proposition is focusing on the unique challenges that exist in tracing e-commerce services and also proving what the company genuinely does to its consumers. Explaining further, he said that if a company wishes to prove its value in terms of high quality assurance, environment-friendly processes, sustainable way of production, and community contribution through Tracified, they can pass the message. “For example, the company might be sourcing agricultural products from 100 families in Vavuniya. So, through Tracified, people would know about it before purchasing from the company. With Tracified, businesses can prove using facts rather than just claiming it on advertisements. Thus, this is the main value proposition that Tracified is capitalising on,” Jayathilaka emphasised. Further commenting on the uniqueness of the services provided, he highlighted that, unlike the other existing companies that still follow the traditional form of only tracking on internal monitoring, Tracified is focused on the end consumer. Jayathilaka said that even though companies provide traceability services, there have been many hundreds of sandals, not only in food but also supply chains, which proves that what consumers are purchasing are not the products they have been told in advertising, the labels, and in product branding. In comparison, Tracifed focuses on the value traceability can bring to the end consumer. According to him, with this transparency, consumers get access to a powerful tool since now they know 100% about the facts and can think for themselves before deciding to purchase. “We believe that keeping traceability within the walls of the company is not the right thing to do today, but you should project that information in a way that your end consumer can judge your products and make their decisions in a more rational way than being driven by emotions through advertisements and various other psychological traits. So, this is how Tracified is different from the rest of the competition and we use blockchain maximally in achieving this target,” Jayathilaka affirmed. Domain Tracifed caters to The company provides product designers, manufacturers, suppliers, and sellers the ability to showcase the traceability of their production process, people, material, and impact to business-to-business (B2B) or business-to-consumer (B2C) partners across the globe. Speaking on this subject, Thilakaratna said that Tracified is not dependent on the industry itself, which is why they cater to many and are also planning to expand into other domains shortly. Tracified today caters to the agriculture, apparel, fashion, gem and jewelry, and alcohol industries and is having further discussions on implementing it for the dairy, medical records and pharmaceuticals, donations, and aluminium extrusion and steel manufacturing industries. Moreover, Tracified this year has been successfully selected by Asian Development Bank (ADB) as the traceability platform for the pilot project in implementing traceability to Azerbaijan’s main export products. Switching the topic focus from company services to employees, Jayathilaka stated that the company started with just three developers and is now in the rapid growth phase with about a 20-member team that caters to all the demands across the globe. When inquired what the corporate culture is, he shared that the culture is mostly derived from 99x Technology, but with a mix of start-up vibes. “(It is) a very flat structure with friendliness, playfulness, openness, everyone-helps-everyone, value-driven working environment, and also, most importantly, equality in male and female participation – 50-50 ratio despite other blockchain companies being dominated by just the male workers,” Jayathilaka highlighted. Adding to the aforementioned question, Thilakaratna also said that it is the culture of leaders without titles, even for interns or any other senior member of the team, as everyone just focuses on playing the leadership role whilst contributing to the development. Challenges and opportunities in the current market Revealing the existing challenges faced by a new technological advancement service, Jayathilaka shared that most of the technical problems they are dealing with today have never been touched by anyone in the world and that there is much more theoretical and practical development yet to happen, as blockchain has only been existing for about a decade. He explained: “There is no literature to read. So, in some cases, we are on our own to go ahead and find solutions for the problem. For example, we believe that the biggest problem facing today’s world is climate change. Environment-friendly and sustainable supply chains are going to get very much prominence in the coming decade. Technically, what we are trying to do is to quantify these things, not just limiting them to just beautiful claims – to quantify the carbon footprint, how much recycling you have done, how much pollution you have caused, etc. “This domain is very complex, and there are a variety of opinions regarding this. Then, measuring all of these things in the real world and putting them into one single meaning in the blockchain is a huge technical challenge. It’s a challenge from one perspective and a huge opportunity from the other as it is a very rewarding intellectual exercise for us.” Meanwhile, commenting on the opportunities, Jayathilaka noted that since they work with Japan in three domains – particularly in agriculture, gem and jewelry, and alcohol – they have been able to further identify potential markets that exist within Japan. Furthermore, he stated that Tracifed is currently working with Asian countries with a different value proposition and also hopes to enter into the US and the European market as well, with a completely different value proposition. “The value proposition may differ from the developing world to the developed world, as they have already sorted out through their very much established, strong state mechanism. Hence, we have to go ahead with high technology solutions for the developed world, and fortunately, we have the privilege of testing those solutions in Japan because if it could work in Japan, then it will work in other developed countries as well,” Jayathilaka added. The future ahead Enlightening us on the short-term goal, Jayathilaka emphasised that Tracified will focus on the unique combination of figuring out what will be the perfect value proposition for supply chain traceability on e-commerce using blockchain technology. Adding to this, Thilakaratna stated that they also aim to offer affordability to consumers and at the same time be the go-to and trusted solution for any business across the globe. According to her, Tracified is also currently at the last stages of coming up with a new solution, similar to the Software as a Service (SaaS) version which will allow businesses, regardless of the size, to be able to integrate traceability into their e-commerce platform. Giving concluding remarks, Jayathilaka stated that within the next five years, Tracified will capitalise on SaaS solutions and serve companies across the globe covering a wide variety of domains using blockchain to provide transparency on one side and the required business confidentially on the other side.