FMCG Distribution
Sparkle Brands
Seven agents support order processing, inventory, supply-chain coordination, and reporting across more than 120 SKUs, four international brands, and 20 sales representatives.
The challenge
Sparkle Brands distributes international FMCG brands across Kenya's major supermarket chains. With 120+ SKUs across 4 brands, 20 field sales representatives, and international supply chains with 3-month lead times from the UK, their operations had outgrown manual processes. Key pain points included:
- Orders arriving by email from supermarket branches, manually keyed into the ERP one line item at a time
- Inventory decisions based on gut feel with 120+ SKUs and 3-month shipping lead times
- Import documentation scattered across Dropbox and email with compliance renewals tracked by memory
- Sales performance data buried in ERP exports requiring hours of manual Excel analysis
- Consumer inquiries on social media going unanswered for hours, losing potential sales
The approach
We started with a two-week discovery phase, interviewing the Sparkle Brands team, mapping their distribution workflows, understanding their ERP system (Reseller), and documenting the complete journey from international purchase orders to supermarket shelf delivery.
We designed seven agents with defined responsibilities, system access, controls, and escalation paths. Together they provide a shared operational view across the distribution business.
The agent team
Amani
Operations Hub
Imara
Order Processing
Baraka
Inventory Intelligence
Kazi
Sales Analytics
Safiri
Supply Chain
Asha
Customer Engagement
Rafiki
Personal Assistant
How the agents work together
Amani is the operations hub -- a command center that pulls from all other agents to deliver daily briefings: pending orders, stock levels, rep activity, shipment updates, and compliance deadlines. Instead of checking three different apps, Sparkle Brands gets full visibility in two minutes.
Imara handles order processing. When purchase orders arrive by email from supermarket branches, Imara scans the email, extracts line items, quantities, and SKUs, maps them to the Reseller ERP, flags mismatches, and queues everything for approval. What used to take 15-20 minutes per order now takes seconds.
Baraka manages inventory intelligence across 120+ SKUs with 3-month lead times from the UK. Using rolling demand averages, shipment ETAs, and cash flow impact analysis, Baraka tells the team exactly when to reorder and how much -- eliminating both stockouts and overstock.
Kazi provides sales analytics: real-time dashboards by rep, route, and branch. Sell-in and sell-through data, territory optimization recommendations, and demand forecasting by area and product category. No more hours spent building pivot tables from ERP exports.
Safiri tracks the supply chain from UK manufacturers to Nairobi warehouse. Every shipment gets a digital checklist. Missing documents are flagged immediately. KEBS and NEMA registration renewals are reminded 3 months in advance. Cost tracking per shipment ensures no surprises at port.
Asha handles customer engagement on social media and WhatsApp. When consumers ask where to find products, Asha responds with the nearest stockists by location. She captures demand signals and routes retailer leads to the sales team.
Rafiki is the personal assistant -- meeting transcription, minutes extraction, action item tracking, and calendar management. Every supplier conversation is recorded, every follow-up is tracked, and past decisions are cross-referenced when context is needed.
Integrations
The agent team connects to Sparkle Brands' existing tools:
- Reseller ERP for order entry, SKU mapping, and fulfillment tracking
- Tally for financial data and cash flow analysis
- Dropbox for shipping documentation and import compliance files
- WhatsApp and social media for customer and retailer engagement
- Email for order intake and supplier communication
- Supabase for centralized data storage and real-time agent coordination
What changed
The deployment changed how the following work is handled:
- Order processing reduced from 15-20 minutes per order to seconds with zero data entry errors
- Inventory decisions backed by rolling demand data and cash flow impact analysis
- Full supply chain visibility from manufacturer to warehouse with automated compliance tracking
- Real-time sales performance across 20 reps, replacing hours of manual Excel reporting
- Every consumer inquiry answered within seconds, capturing demand signals that previously went unnoticed
- Complete meeting and decision audit trail with automatic follow-up tracking