Twenty-four Nigerian firms saw their combined revenue more than triple to N1.15 trillion within four years, BusinessDay analysis of the latest Africa’s fastest growing companies list shows.
The firms are Omniretail Inc, Afex Commodities Exchange Limited, Mycredit Investment Limited, and Alpha Morgan Capital Managers Limited.
Other Nigerian firms that made the list are Thrive Agric Limited, Bisedge Limited, The Seamless Company Limited, West African Soy Industries Limited, Sundry Markets Limited, Veritasi Homes and Properties Limited, and Paga Group Limited.
The rest are United Capital Plc, Fidson Healthcare Plc, R.T Briscoe Plc, Tripple Gee & Company Plc, BUA Foods Plc, Black House Media Group Limited, Comercio Partners Limited, Wacot Rice Limited, John Holt Plc, Amel International Services Limited, Academy Press Plc, Cutix Plc and Transcorp Hotels Plc.
The ranking which was done by the Financial Times and research company Statista in which BusinessDay was a cooperation partner shows that the total firms’ revenue rose by 257.9 percent from N320.3 billion in 2019 to N1.15 trillion in 2022.
The ranking, now in its third year, comes against a background in which many economies are struggling to recover from the Covid pandemic. It lists 125 companies, ordered by the highest compound annual growth in revenues (CAGR) between 2019 and 2022.
Further findings show that in the 125 list, Omniretail ranked as the fastest-growing company in Africa as it posted a 66,294.9 percent increase in revenue from N89.3 million in 2019 to N59.3 billion in 2022.
Afex ranked fifth with a 5,733.1 percent growth in revenue to N176.1 billion from N3.01 billion. Mycredit Investments Limited, which ranked 12th recorded a 1,719.1 percent increase in revenue from N3.33 billion to N60.6 billion.
Alpha Morgan Capital Managers Limited’s revenue rose by 994.8 percent to N5.84 billion from N553.3 million.
Read also: Here are the sectors with most Nigerian firms on FT ranking
“Again, it was a Nigerian company — this time Omniretail — that came top. As in previous years, the winning business is a B2B e-commerce platform that helps small retailers, kiosk owners, and market traders digitise their business”, FT said in the ranking report.
It said Nigeria, one of the continent’s three biggest economies, spent 2023 in an economic crisis as prices spiralled upward and the naira went into freefall.
“Nevertheless, it still had the second highest number of companies in our ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing, compiled in conjunction with research company Statista. South Africa, where growth has also been lacklustre, was home to the highest number,” the report added.
It said even generally more dynamic economies, such as Kenya — which, like many African countries, is labouring under high public debt — struggled to get out of the low-growth doldrums as inflation gnawed at disposable income and the government squeezed expenditure.
“This year, our ranking has a wider geographical spread of companies than before. The big newcomer is Morocco, with 12 companies in the top 125 against just three last time.”
Through research in company databases and other public sources, Statista identified thousands of companies in Africa as potential candidates for the FT ranking.
The companies were invited to participate in the research by post and email. The project was advertised online and in print, allowing all eligible companies to register via the websites created by Statista and the Financial Times.
The application phase ran from October 9, 2023, to February 29, 2024. The submitted revenue figures had to be certified by the chief financial officer, chief executive, or an executive committee of the company.
To be included in the list of Africa’s fastest-growing companies, a company had to meet the following criteria such as a revenue of at least $100,000 generated in 2019, a revenue of at least $1.5 million generated in 2022, an independent company (not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind); headquartered in an African country and revenue growth between 2019 and 2022 that was primarily organic (ie “internally” stimulated).
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