If your business made it to 2026 without collapsing, it is tempting to call that success. But survival is a low bar. The harder question is whether the business is better prepared for the year ahead than it was for the one just finished.
When the holidays end and, as is the case this year, elections too, business owners are encouraged to ask familiar questions: What should I change? What should I stop doing? Should I concentrate on one thing, or run several activities? These questions assume that all businesses face the same choices. That is far from the truth.
In our shared reality, there are two common situations. Some owners run one main business that includes several activities, products, or services. Others run several businesses at the same time, each with its own customers, cash flow, and risks. The right question depends on which situation you are in.
When you are running one business with many activities, those activities are usually connected in some way. You may be serving different customers, selling different products, or offering different services, but they sit under one operation.
In this case, doing many things is often a response to uncertainty. Adding activities can help smooth income and keep workers busy. That is not a mistake.
The problem appears when none of those activities gets easier to run over time. The owner must approve everything.
Stock problems repeat. Workers wait for instructions. The business stays busy but fragile. Here, the useful question is whether at least one activity is becoming more predictable and easier to manage. This might show up as better stock planning, clearer roles for workers, fewer emergencies, or more reliable delivery to customers.
The aim is not to drop activities suddenly, but to strengthen one part of the business so that learning builds instead of restarting every year.
Related activities can help this process if they share suppliers, staff, transport, or customers. Unrelated activities can slow it down if they pull attention in too many directions.
When you are running several separate businesses, the logic is different. Each business has its own rhythm and risks, and your time is the main shared resource. In this situation, diversification is often about survival. When one business slows down, another pays the bills.
The risk here is personal overload. If every business depends on you every day, none of them improves much. You stay busy, but nothing becomes stable. Improvement in this case usually means making choices.
Is there one business that has steadier demand, fewer surprises, or more room to grow? If so, you may decide to protect it by giving it more time, better systems, or clearer attention.
Other businesses may still run, but they should not drain too much of your energy. This does not mean shutting things down overnight.
It means being honest about where your effort is going and whether it is reducing repeated problems. What matters in both cases is not the label you give your choices, but the results they produce.
If spreading yourself across many activities reduces shocks and keeps things running, it may be the right move for now. If it leaves you exhausted and solving the same problems every month, it is costing more than it protects.
As the year begins, I encourage you to aim for growth by asking a simple question: Is the way you are working today making the year ahead easier, or are you just staying afloat? After all, survival mode is not a growth strategy.
Experts have previously noted that steady inflows from exports, remittances, and portfolio investments are likely to continue supporting the shilling, despite pre- and post-election jitters.