CarGen's AI agent is the first response in every customer conversation.
How Car & General automated high-volume customer enquiries across East Africa with an AI conversational assistant built and deployed by Kitsilano Technologies.
The Company
A distribution network
spanning three
countries.
Car & General (Trading) Limited, operating as CarGen, is one of East Africa's leading distributors of automotive, power generation, construction, agricultural, transport, and industrial equipment. Headquartered in Nairobi, the company holds a commanding regional presence with thirteen branches across Kenya alone and direct operations in Tanzania and Uganda. CarGen is part of Car & General (Kenya) PLC, which is listed on the Nairobi Securities Exchange.
The Challenge
Enquiry volume exceeded branch operating hours
CarGen received substantial volumes of pre-sales enquiries through its website, most of them repeat questions about pricing, product comparisons, branch locations, and spare parts availability. A customer asking a pricing question in the evening waited until the next business day for information that already existed in a company price list. That delay drove potential customers to competing distributors able to respond faster.
Continuous enquiry volume across three countries and multiple time zones
Repetitive questions consuming branch team capacity
The Approach
Ribbo AI deployed on the CarGen website
Kitsilano deployed Ribbo AI, its conversational assistant platform. The knowledge base was built from CarGen's own website content, then restructured for machine retrieval rather than human browsing. The assistant is retrained on the website so its answers keep pace with CarGen's product range, and when a customer is ready to buy, a live CarGen agent can take over the conversation.
Knowledge base files built from CarGen's website content, with retraining as the site changes
Documented out-of-scope content converting potential hallucinations into defined refusals
The Results
First response in every conversation, at least 1 in 5 resolved alone
CarGen's AI agent is the first response in every customer conversation. It resolves at least 1 in 5 on its own, and connects customers to the team when they need a person, so a live agent picks up the same conversation and completes the sale. Coverage runs continuously across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, with customers routed to the correct branch among thirteen Kenyan locations, and enquiry volume grows without adding headcount.
First response in every conversation, with at least 1 in 5 resolved on its own
Contact details captured at source, feeding outreach and conversion
Human Handover & Insight
The assistant starts the sale. CarGen's team finishes it.
Kitsilano enabled human continuation from the start. When a customer is ready for a formal quotation, a financing discussion, or anything the assistant should not handle alone, a live CarGen agent picks up the same conversation with the full history in front of them and carries it through to a completed sale.
The customer never has to repeat themselves, the assistant never has to overreach, and every conversation feeds a clearer picture of what CarGen's customers actually want.
What that gives CarGen
Seamless handover to live agents
Sales staff step into any conversation at the point the assistant hands over, with the context intact and the customer still in the same thread.
Flexibility across the sales cycle
The assistant answers the repetitive first questions while people handle negotiation, financing, and closing, and that balance can shift as CarGen's confidence in the assistant grows.
Resolution tracking
Resolution is tracked across every conversation, showing what the assistant closes on its own and where the team needs to step in.
Conversation analytics and demand insights
Analytics across conversations reveal which products, prices, and branches customers ask about most, informing stock decisions, FAQs, and marketing priorities.
Results & Benefits
Measurable business outcomes across three markets.
First Response
The AI agent is the first response in every customer conversation and resolves at least 1 in 5 on its own.
Sales Velocity
Quotation requests reach sales pre-qualified, so enquiry volume scales without adding headcount.
Always Available
Enquiries arriving outside office hours receive accurate immediate answers instead of next-day delays.
Three Markets
Continuous coverage across Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda, with routing to the correct branch among thirteen Kenyan locations.
Pipeline Capture
Contact details are collected before the conversation begins, separating serious buyers from browsers and giving sales a qualified list for outreach.
Demand Visibility
Conversation analytics show what customers are actually asking, informing stock decisions, FAQs, and marketing priorities.
Human Handover
Live CarGen agents can take over any conversation from the assistant and carry it through to a completed sale.
Team Capacity
Branch staff concentrate on quotation preparation, financing discussions, and after-sales support.
Customer Experience
Consistent answers in the customer's own language, in seconds, on CarGen's own website.
Get started
Start your digital transformation today
Leave your details and we will reach out within one business day. No pitches, no decks. Just an honest conversation about where you are and what a partnership could look like.