Ernst & Young (EY), Asoko Insight and IC Publications have partnered to launch an initiative called, Africa Ranking. It will be a comprehensive annual ranking of Africa’s top-performing privately-held companies.
Africa Ranking will provide an extensive ranking of the best performing, privately-held companies across Africa using a continent-wide survey. Data submissions will be measured on the financial performance, growth, and governance of the ranked companies.
The report aims to be the ultimate reference point for the companies actually driving the region’s growth based on audited and verifiable company data.
EY is one of the big four global companies providing tax, transaction and advisory services. Asoko Insight (Asoko), on the other hand, specialises in providing corporate data on Africa’s leading private companies. While IC Publications provides analysis and debate on African political and economic issues and is the parent company of respected business monthly, African Business Magazine.
Africa Ranking will be open to companies with an annual turnover of at least $500,000. The companies must be for-profit and their headquarters must be located in Africa. Successful applications will be based on year-on-year growth performance and not on financial size.
Michael Lalor, EY’s Africa Business Centre Lead Partner says, “Despite current uncertainties, the longer term outlook for economic growth and investment in Africa remains positive. However, investment opportunities are likely to be more uneven in coming years. As a truly integrated firm across the Africa region, we believe this collaboration will go one step further in supporting our view on the Africa growth narrative. There are many companies across the continent who have contributed significantly to the respective economies, and we need to continue to highlight and share these success stories locally and globally.”
The first edition of the report will be published in February 2017 and it will not only provide the companies with global exposure, but it will also serve as a metric against which they can benchmark their performance. Rankings will be calculated on a weighted basis to ensure accuracy and any company that applied but isn’t ranked among the top listed companies will receive clear feedback on the reasons why.
Companies that engage in trade and investments across African countries will also be given preference.
Asoko’s co-Founder and Managing Director, Rob Withagen, speaking on the timeliness and relevance of the report says, “Over the past ten years, Africa’s private sector has witnessed impressive growth in trade and investment. But the predominant focus remains on the continent’s most established corporates. The Africa Ranking will be the first pan-African initiative that identifies the progress of a much wider pool of solid, African companies for the global business and investment community to engage with.”
Is your company privately-held and headquartered in Africa? You can apply to enter the ranking here.
