Growth: Sometimes the harder way is the only option  

Every day, I meet business owners chasing growth. They want to expand, open new branches, hire more staff, and increase revenue. And rightly so, growth is the lifeblood of any business. But how we grow matters just as much as how fast. 

Recently, I came across a story shared by Vusi, a South African businessman, about a founder who built a company with 450 employees and 30 outlets across four countries.

The striking part? They made 95 percent of their products in-house, not out of pride, but out of necessity. 

They could not afford to outsource and wait months for supplies that might not meet their needs. So they built every part of the machine themselves.  That story hit home. 

At Maru Credit, we work with small and medium enterprises across Uganda, and we see this reality up close. Entrepreneurs often don't have the option to plug into efficient systems. 

The supply chain is patchy, logistics are unpredictable, and trusted partners are few. One of the most recognisable restaurant brands in the country has a strong customer base and quality service.
 
You would think they would focus on perfecting those strengths and rely on the many delivery platforms available to handle orders. But instead, they built their own delivery app.

Why? Because consistency, customer experience, and speed are too important to leave to third parties who cannot deliver to their standard. 

That’s vertical integration in action. Many Ugandan businesses are doing the same, often without realising it. They aren’t just running a shop, they’re also their own supplier, marketer, logistics team, and tech support.

To some, this looks inefficient. But to me, it looks like resilience. 

I have come to see vertical integration not as a luxury or an ideal but as a practical survival strategy in our environment. 

Similar to South Africa, the businesses that succeed in East Africa aren’t necessarily the leanest or flashiest. They are the ones that dig in, build internally, and take control of what they can. 

This is not easy. It takes capital, patience, and grit. But I have also seen the rewards: consistent product quality, quicker turnaround, and deeper customer loyalty. And, importantly, more jobs are created along the way. 

So if you are a Ugandan entrepreneur feeling frustrated that your path looks harder than what you read about in startup blogs or Western case studies, know that you are not doing it wrong. 

You are doing it our way. The harder way. But often, the only way. 

The writer is the Maru Credit managing director