Today, nearly every Ugandan is familiar with the name Toyota. Whether it is a boda-boda rider admiring a Wish, an Uber driver navigating Kampala’s potholes in a Premio or a proud uncle pulling up at a kwanjula in a Land Cruiser V8—Toyota is more than just a car; it is a badge of mobility, status and sometimes survival. But very few know that this automotive empire did not start with cars at all—it started with thread.

The story begins in Japan, in the early 1900s, with a man named Sakichi Toyoda. He was not an engineer or a mechanic. He was a tinkerer, a lover of machines and he wanted to ease the burden of manual weaving on his mother and other women working in the textile industry. His answer? A wooden handloom. But Sakichi did not stop there. In 1926, he founded Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, creating looms that were so advanced they could stop automatically when a thread broke. That small idea—stopping when something went wrong—would later become a core part of Toyota’s car philosophy.

While Sakichi was focused on threads, his son Kiichiro Toyoda had caught a different fever: cars. Japan had no local car industry, and Kiichiro believed the country needed one. When the Japanese government began encouraging local car production in the 1930s, Kiichiro asked for permission to use some of the family’s loom profits to build a car.

Toyoda then Toyota

In 1936, they unveiled their first prototype—the Model AA. It was not exactly revolutionary; in fact, it looked suspiciously like an American Chrysler. But it ran, and it was Japanese. Soon after, the company name was changed from Toyoda to Toyota, partly for easier pronunciation and partly because the new name required eight strokes to write in Japanese, a number considered lucky.

Then came the war. World War 2 devastated Japan’s industry, and Toyota was not spared. Bombings, resource shortages and loss of demand almost buried the company. By 1950, Toyota was bankrupt. Workers went on strike. The mood was so grim that Kiichiro resigned in shame, unable to see his dream collapsing. Toyota barely survived—rescued by a loan that came with a strict condition: the company had to split into two separate entities, one for manufacturing and another for sales.

Most companies would have folded there and then. But Toyota had something different. They had kaizen—the Japanese philosophy of continuous improvement—and the genius of a man named Taiichi Ohno, who developed what is now known as the “Toyota Production System.” It introduced Just-In-Time manufacturing, where nothing was made or bought until it was absolutely needed. No waste. No clutter. Just precision.

Export debacle

In the 1950s, Toyota attempted to export cars to the US, beginning with the Toyopet Crown. It was a disaster. The engine overheated. Americans laughed. But instead of retreating, Toyota studied, improved and adapted.

Their big break came during the 1973 oil crisis. As fuel prices soared, American gas guzzlers fell out of favour. Toyota’s small, efficient cars like the Corolla became the darlings of the road. And when they released the Camry in 1982, it cemented their position as a serious global contender.

Toyota did not stop there. In 1989, they introduced Lexus, their luxury line. The world rolled its eyes. A Japanese brand trying to beat Mercedes and BMW? Please. But the Lexus LS400 came out and stunned everyone—it was quiet, powerful and almost perfect. By 2000, Lexus was America’s top-selling luxury brand.

Of course, the road was not always smooth. Between 2009 and 2010, Toyota was hit by a major scandal: vehicles experiencing “unintended acceleration.” The headlines were brutal. The US government fined them $1.2bn (shs7.6trn)—the largest ever for an automaker. Behind the scenes, insiders admitted the company had grown too fast, compromising on quality to keep up with global demand.

But true to form, Toyota did not collapse under the pressure. Instead, they did what they have always done—learn, adjust and improve.

Electric vehicles

Long before Elon Musk was dreaming of tweeting from Mars, Toyota had already changed the game with the Prius, the world’s first mass-produced hybrid, launched in 1997. But oddly, Toyota hesitated on full electric vehicles, placing its bet on hydrogen fuel instead. It was a slow move, and as Tesla and Chinese brands surged ahead in EVs, Toyota found itself playing catch-up.

Yet despite its missteps, Toyota remained at the top. As of 2023, it was still the world’s largest automaker by volume, selling over 10.5 million vehicles. Even with rising pressure from China’s BYD and Tesla, Toyota’s hybrid dominance and lean production methods kept its margins strong.

From a humble wooden loom in Japan to millions of cars navigating the hills of Kabale, the traffic of Kampala, and the potholes of Mityana—Toyota’s journey is a testament to patience, resilience and innovation.

If there is a lesson for any Ugandan entrepreneur here, it is this: Do not be afraid to start small, fail publicly, adjust quietly and rise again. Like Toyota, your greatest invention might not be what you start with, but where you are bold enough to go next.

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