Yesterday, the Financial Times, and research company, Statista released a report on Africa’s fastest growing companies 2023. The list highlights how the top 100 African businesses from across different sectors—fintech, renewable energy, healthcare, commodities and agriculture—kept their businesses afloat while most of the world’s businesses shut down. Topping the list is Nigerian-based startup Afex Commodities Exchange and Moniepoint. Other companies on the list include Wasoko, from Kenya, which topped the list the previous year, and Altech, an Energy company from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
This article highlights some of the talking points of the report.
The list shows a balanced representation of all sectors
Although fintech and agriculture hold top spots, Africa’s fastest-growing companies list shows a balanced representation of companies across different sectors. Companies from across IT & Software, Logistics & Transportation, Real Estate, Energy & Utilities, Construction & Engineering, Food & Beverages, Media & Telecommunications, Agriculture, Retail, Hospitality, Professional Services, E-commerce, Management & Consulting, Manufacturing, Education, Metals & Mining, were all on the list with varying degrees of representation.
Fintech and IT companies had the highest number of representation on the list, with nineteen and sixteen businesses, respectively. Agriculture, with a representation of nine countries, comes in third and is closely followed by the Metal and Mining sector, with eight companies contributing to the list. Sectors with the lowest number of representation include manufacturing, hospitality& travel, employment services, and professional services, with one entry apiece.
The big four lead the pack
The Africa’s Fastest growing companies list saw representation from fourteen different African countries: Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Egypt, Kenya, Sierra Leone, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Morocco, Tanzania, Ghana, Mauritius, Zambia, Malawi and Namibia.
Companies from the big four—South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt and Kenya—heavily dominated the list. Leading the pack were South Africa and Nigeria, with thirty-three and twenty-seven businesses, respectively. Kenya and Egypt both polled twelve and nine businesses, respectively. Zambia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, DRC, Tanzania, and Malawi polled the least number of entries, with one entry each.
Regions.
Southern Africa produced the most number of entries in the list, with 37 companies, hugely boosted by figures in South Africa and just four in Namibia. Western Africa comes in second with 30 entries across Nigeria, Ghana and Sierra Leone. Eastern Africa had a show of nineteen company contributions. Middle Africa contributed the least to the 100 fastest growing company list with just one entry.
Eastern Africa had the highest number of countries on the list, with 5 countries, closely followed by West Africa, with three. Middle Africa had the least with one, while South Africa and North Africa had two countries each on the list.
