How Mugerwa made his mark in printing business

As a young boy, Charles Mugerwa always dreamt of having his own company much as he knew it was not easy starting out.
From school, he started as a trainee in the technical department at Picfare Industries before joining the Luzira-based Graphic Systems Limited. He attributes most of his business traits to Graphic Systems, a place he says, taught him a lot about operating a printing business.
“I spent three years at Graphic Systems that is from and this is where I learnt most of tricks in printing business,” says Mr Mugerwa.

He later went to Nasser Road and worked with a friend named Katende who owned a printing company called Intersoft.
“In 2002, I decided to go independent and started Multi Technical Services with a colleague and we were technicians working on faulty machines.

But business was slow as people would not pay for our services. This is when I started looking for printing jobs. But I would just act a broker because I did not have my own printer. I would get few jobs and give other people to work.

Starting out
In 2003, my clientele grew. I bought a GTO 46 printing machine but it could only print in one colour. I later bought an MO machine that would print two colours. That is when we changed the name of the company to In-line Print Services Limited from the original multi technical company.
“Our business started because we had a brand to sell, we had few staff and we set off destined for greater heights,” Mr Mugerwa shares.

Expansion
Mr Mugerwa who has an ambitious dream of being the top printing company in the country started strategizing on how to achieve this.
“Our major aim was to be the number one printing company. Therefore, we started a partnership with Orient Bank. Through a lot of financial support, we started calling for serious business opportunities,” Mr Mugerwa explains.

This meant he needed more people to get the work done.
“We procured more machines and hired more staff. As a result, we hired extra space to house our printer machines,” he says, adding: “We got business executives who would look for business. We engaged procurement officers and started bidding.”

Clients
Currently, the printing firm has a strong clientele including Coca Cola, Makerere University, Uganda Breweries Limited, World vision and Barclays Bank among others.
Mr Mugerwa says they have got many business ideas over time and instead of out sourcing, they do the work themselves. Due to this, we have partnered with Barclays bank for more financial assistance.

Worth of business
In-line Print Services Limited has been growing financially over time. In 2008, the business was worth Shs200 million. After running several contracts in 2014/2015 the business was worth Shs5.8 billion.
Currently, In-line Print Services Limited is worth a whopping Shs22 billion.

It employs 52 permanent staff and more than 100 people on contract-based employment. Some of these employees are graphic designers, technicians, accountants and business executives among others.
Mr Mugerwa credits the company’s success to high integrity, hard work, marketing, high-quality standards and passion for what he does. Printing has become our hobby says Mr Mugerwa.
Emerging 14th in the Top 100 SME competition ran by Daily Monitor and KPMG is one of Mr Mugerwa’s greatest achievements.

Plans
The company has a bigger working space in Kitintale.
“We want to move to our own new working space which has already taken off. We bought a plot at Port Bell Road in Kitintale and we are moving the technical department first,” he says.
The new facility is expected to help them save on rental expenses which are now high in Kampala.
There will also be some privacy considering that they operate in a highly sensitive business environment that requires secrecy sometimes.

Due to the improvement and high technology cropping up, Mr Mugerwa hopes to set up a technical training school where they will train youth and their workers on the new technologies.
He says most of employees learn on job, this is not enough, according to Mr Mugerwa who believes they need to get to the roots of technology.
“Almost every five years, a new machine is introduced to the market and our technical staff needs this training,” Mr Mugerwa says.

Challenges
Like any business, we have got hard times. First is the high cost of renting.
Landlords ask for huge chunks of money and they want it on time. Failure to comply can lead to closing the station. Worse still, this rent is increased almost every six months.

For a company that heavily relies on electricity powered machines, high power bills are a big challenge to their financials.
High tax rates also reduce their profit margins. “If we were not brave we would be out of business now,” says Mr Mugerwa.
The printing business has stiff competition now. Very many people have joined the sector with better services.

“Therefore, it is tough as one has to go an extra mile to maintain clientele and stay in the business.”
Mr Mugerwa adds that unskilled labour and dishonest contract workers who steal materials meant to do work are another problem.