Dubai, UAE – January 28, 2026 — At Gulfood 2026, Yasir Memon, Co-Founder of Salesflo, delivered a keynote address titled “The Case for Agentic AI in Driving Growth for the F&B Sector” presenting a bold vision for how food and beverage organizations must rethink growth, execution, and leadership in an increasingly complex global market.
Speaking to an audience of senior executives, manufacturers, distributors, and technology leaders, Yasir positioned Agentic AI as the next major inflection point for the F&B sector—one that goes beyond analytics, dashboards, and forecasting to fundamentally change how commercial operations are run on a daily basis.
“The F&B industry is operating in an environment of constant disruption—volatile demand, margin pressure, fragmented distribution, and rising service expectations,” Yasir said during his keynote. “Growth in this environment cannot be managed through planning cycles alone. It requires systems that can sense change, decide intelligently, and execute continuously. This is where Agentic AI becomes critical.”
The Limits of Traditional Growth Models
In his address, Yasir highlighted that while most F&B organizations have invested heavily in data platforms, ERP systems, and analytics tools, many still struggle to convert insight into consistent execution across markets and channels. The result, he explained, is a growing gap between commercial strategy and what actually happens on the ground.
“Most organizations don’t suffer from a lack of intelligence,” Yasir noted. “They suffer from a lack of execution control. Decisions are made centrally, but execution is fragmented across thousands of daily actions in sales, distribution, and retail.”
According to Yasir, this gap has become one of the biggest barriers to scalable growth in the F&B sector. As distribution networks expand and market dynamics become more complex, manual oversight and static decision-making models are no longer sufficient.
Agentic AI: From Decision Support to Execution Governance
Yasir described Agentic AI as a fundamental shift from traditional decision-support systems to execution governance platforms—AI-driven systems that actively manage commercial operations rather than simply reporting on them.
Agentic AI, he explained, embeds intelligence directly into daily workflows, enabling organizations to:
- Continuously align commercial priorities with frontline execution
- Detect execution gaps in real time and trigger corrective actions
- Orchestrate sales, distribution, and retail activity at scale
- Maintain consistency and discipline across markets, channels, and teams
“Agentic AI doesn’t wait for monthly reviews or retrospective analysis,” Yasir said. “It operates in the flow of work—guiding actions, enforcing priorities, and ensuring execution happens as intended.”
This shift, he emphasized, is especially critical for F&B organizations operating across diverse geographies, route-to-market models, and retail formats, where variability often undermines performance.
Driving Sustainable Growth in the F&B Sector
A key theme of the keynote was the distinction between short-term performance improvements and sustainable, scalable growth. Yasir argued that true growth in the F&B sector depends on the ability to execute consistently at scale without adding disproportionate cost or complexity.
He shared how organizations leveraging Agentic AI are already seeing tangible benefits, including:
- Improved product availability and on-shelf execution
- Reduced revenue leakage and operational inefficiencies
- Higher frontline productivity and accountability
- Faster response to market changes and demand signals
“Growth isn’t just about doing more—it’s about doing the right things, consistently, every day,” Yasir said. “Agentic AI gives leaders the confidence that their strategy is being executed in the market, not diluted by complexity.”
Augmenting Human Leadership, Not Replacing It
Addressing common misconceptions around AI, Yasir emphasized that Agentic AI is designed to augment human leadership, not replace it. By automating routine decisions and enforcing execution discipline, leaders can focus on higher-value activities such as market strategy, innovation, and customer relationships.
“The role of leadership doesn’t diminish with Agentic AI—it becomes more impactful,” Yasir explained. “When execution is governed intelligently, leaders can lead with clarity instead of firefighting.”
He added that organizations that embrace this shift early will be better positioned to navigate future disruptions while protecting revenue, margins, and brand equity.
Salesflo at Gulfood 2026
Salesflo’s participation at Gulfood 2026 as Technology Innovation Partner underscored its commitment to shaping the future of commercial execution in the F&B and FMCG sectors. Yasir’s keynote reinforced Salesflo’s leadership in Agentic Commerce, positioning the company at the forefront of how AI is transforming growth, execution, and commercial governance.
About Gulfood 2026
Gulfood is the world’s largest and most influential food and beverage exhibition, held annually in Dubai. For over two decades, it has brought together global brands, manufacturers, distributors, and industry leaders to shape the future of food, trade, and commercial growth across international markets.
