The Offline Gap: why Ugandan businesses are not going online

Fortiemart built Fortiemart 360 to be cheap, easy and safe: a verified marketplace, a business dashboard, direct mobile money payments, local languages and strong security. A shop space costs far less than rent in a physical market. Yet most businesses we invited did not sign up.

So we are asking a simple question, and answering it with data, not opinions: why do people and businesses stay offline, even when going online is cheap and easy?

What our own data shows

Between 16 October and 6 November 2026, when the Fortiemart 360 pilot opened:

• 231 people visited fortiemart.com or the marketplace (594 visits), 76% of them on a phone
• Visitors stayed active for about 2 minutes per visit
• 85 opened the marketplace and 8 created an account
• 3 businesses opened a verified shop, with 6 products live
• 3 orders were placed and 1 completed
• 1 business paid the UGX 30,000 pilot fee
• About 8 in 10 visitors came through links we shared directly; 12 found us on Google

From 231 visitors to 1 paying business. That gap is what this publication is about. The figures include some test visits by our own team, so public numbers are slightly lower.

Fortiemart has asked this question since 2016, when it began as a listing platform linking demand and supply. Since then we have trained businesses in data and internet use, helped register more than 30 companies with URSB and URA, and in 2026 assessed 27 agricultural enterprises across 13 districts. Earlier platform records were lost in a 2025 cyber attack, so these counts start with our new, more secure system.

What the wider evidence says

• Coverage is not the problem; use is. About 96% of Ugandans live within reach of a 4G signal, yet only a minority use the internet. Estimates range from 8.9% (World Bank and ITU, 2024) to 22% (DataReportal, October 2025), depending on how use is measured.
• Uganda is behind its neighbours. Kenya is at about 40% and Rwanda about 34–38% on comparable measures.
• The same barriers appear across Africa: the cost of a smartphone, digital skills and confidence, awareness of what the internet can do, fear of scams, and too few useful local services (GSMA, 2025).
• Phones are costly. An entry-level smartphone costs about UGX 150,000, roughly 40% of average monthly income, and taxes make up about a third of that.
• Trust is damaged. In a 2025 survey of digital money users, 85% had faced a fraud attempt and 22% had lost money (Innovations for Poverty Action).
• Most businesses are informal. About 92% of informal businesses are not registered with URSB (EPRC), so any platform that only accepts registered businesses shuts most of them out.

Seven possible reasons we are testing

• The value is not visible. Owners don't know how much they could save or earn online.
• Trust is low. Fear of fraud blocks the first payment.
• Confusion with online shops. People think Fortiemart is another online shop competing with them, when it gives businesses their own digital space and tools.
• Paying before seeing results feels risky, even when the amount is small.
• Registration rules exclude most businesses.
• Skills and time. Owners need someone to help them set up.
• Buyers are not there yet, so businesses wait.

Take part

Tell us what holds you back, or what would make online selling work for you, in the short form below. It takes two minutes, and we publish the combined results here as they come in. Businesses, buyers, government bodies, researchers and partners are all welcome. To run the study with us in your town or sector, talk to us.

Sources

• DataReportal: Digital 2026 Uganda
• DataReportal: Digital 2026 Kenya
• Daily Monitor: Why Uganda is offline
• Daily Monitor: The opportunity in cheaper internet
• Devex: Why are 3.4 billion people still offline? (GSMA 2025)
• Innovations for Poverty Action: Uganda 2025 Financial Consumer Protection Survey
• EPRC: Why informal sector enterprises in Uganda do not want to register