25 Nigerian firms make FT 2024 Africa’s fastest growing list

Twenty-five companies in Nigeria have been listed in a ranking by the Financial Times and research company Statista among the fastest-growing companies in the country. BusinessDay was a cooperation partner in the research.

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.

The Nigerian firms are Omniretail, Moniepoint, Afex Commodities Exchange Limited, Mycredit Investments Limited, Alpha Morgan Capital Managers Limited, Thrive Agric Limited, Bisedge Limited, The Seamless Company Limited, West African Soy Industries Limited, Sundry Markets Limited, Veritas 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.

“Nigeria, one of the continent’s three biggest economies, spent 2023 in economic crisis as prices spiralled upwards 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,” FT said in the ranking report.

Omniretail, Monipoint top list

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,” the report added.

FT noted that Mauritian-domiciled companies also did well with nine winners, against four in 2022 and South Africa had 42 companies in the list, followed by Nigeria’s 25, while Kenya tied third at 12.

“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.”

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.

Further findings from the ranking show that Omniretail, founded in 2019, topped the list, posting a 66,294.9 per cent increase in revenue from N89.3 million in 2019 to N59.3 billion in 2022.

Monipoint, a digital banking platform for businesses, was ranked second; the firm’s revenue grew by 7,979.3 per cent to N148.6 million from N1.84 million. Afex ranked third with a 5,733.1 per cent growth in revenue to N176.1 billion from N3.01 billion. It was followed by Mycredit Investments Limited which 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 per cent to N5.84 billion from N553.3 million.

Abebe Selassie, head of the IMF’s Africa department, acknowledges that Covid-19 set economies back. “I worry about the effect that the pandemic has had on poverty, particularly in the most fragile countries.”

Still, he points out that many businesses have managed to survive, and even prosper. “Much of the private sector, particularly the private sector that’s not directly reliant on government business, has shown incredible resilience,” he said.