Startup helps small businesses find customers, source supplies using AI

Pheneas Munene hated window shopping in Nairobi since it forced him to look at goods displayed through shop windows. He desired to solve this problem using technology.

So, in 2018, he founded Phindor, a business technology startup that offers artificial intelligence (AI) and data mining technologies for micro small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in the country.

“My friend and I did not want to go window shopping, which involved asking about products and then analysing the data collected to decide where or from whom to buy a product.

“Having been exposed to AI in the previous year, I knew we could create an AI model to do the hard work and match potential buyers with sellers, hence the name phindor (finder, which means to look for). We later evolved to enable businesses use the same approach to inform their decisions,” the 24-year-old says.

“For us, it meant creating an algorithm that would help us find whatever we needed as per our financial capabilities, quality needs, and location, while saving us the hustle of having to search online and physically visit shops. Phindor is the company name while the product itself is known as LiSA, short for intelLigent Shop Assistant,” the Technical University of Kenya electronics engineering student says.

Some of the products that the platform offers include market and financial prediction – which helps businesses plan better, and product and market tracking and recommendation to save business owners the hustle of market research and help them easily come up with the right products, prices, and markets for their businesses.

“We also offer smart supply chain network management which uses AI to inform and simplify the process of identifying and securing supplies. We also have a customer management tool to help traders create customer profiles and stay in touch with them,” Mr Munene says.

Benefits of platform

The system involves onboarding business setups through their names and email. 

“To set up their business on the platform, one needs to provide their business name, registration status and number, their ID numbers, product catalog, the primary location of their outlet, and the number of their employees,” Munene says.

For data mining, business owners have to add their walk-in customers and collect their data including contact info, items purchased, and feedback.

The app also keeps a track of how certain products are moving in the business and predicts when restocking would be necessary, creates a list of the items to be ordered, including recommended quantities, and sends a notification to the business owner for confirmation before an order is made to the optimal supplier.

“For the Market Intelligence function, the assistant tracks and predict changes in demand, prices, customer preference, competition, sales, and other external market factors and then recommend actions to take to navigate these outcomes. Voice assistant and chatbot allows users to either chat or converse with the assistant to access our services,” he adds.

The benefits of the platform to businesses are data safety, access to clean market data, and the ability to plan.

“By keeping a customer’s profile, businesses can always communicate and collaborate with their customers to help improve their businesses. Following up with customers, creating and sending offers, getting feedback has been made easier and more effective.” Munene says.

Biggest challenges

Currently, they have a team of seven software engineers and are hiring for the marketing and sales departments. They hope to increase the team to at least 30 people by the end of the year.

They source for clients through person-to-person marketing, though social media, events, training sessions, and referrals.

Some of their customers include Mega shop Ruiru, Joo computers Nairobi, Royal electricals Eastleigh, Dan electronics Nairobi, and Kiige electricals and accessories.

“We registered 67 businesses by the end of February and closed the registration so that we could focus on making sure the product is ready for commercial purposes. We have served over 2,500 shoppers through these businesses.” Munene says.

One of their biggest challenges has been lack of adequate financing. Building the system is capital intensive, which they lack.

“Also, initially, we didn’t have solid networks. We have had to work our way from having no networks to creating relationships with major business players across the continent. We are still not as exposed as we would like, but are constantly working to make sure we get there,” the entrepreneur says.

Their goal is to create a business-to-customer (B2C) networks through AI on the data generated to ease and inform the interaction of the two parties, as well as improve their relationship and experience.

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