The Financial Times and data firm Statista have released their inaugural ranking of the fastest growing African companies, with several major South African companies included on the list.
The companies were ranked by the highest compound annual growth (CAGR) in revenue between 2017 and 2020.
The ranking was created through a complex procedure. Although the research was extensive, the list is not exhaustive as some companies did not want to make their figures public or did not participate for other reasons.
Statista has identified thousands of companies in Africa as potential candidates for the ranking, through company database searches and other public sources. These companies were invited to participate in the contest by post and email.
The process required that the submitted revenue data be certified by the CEO, CFO or a member of the company’s executive committee.
South African companies
South Africa is the most represented country on the list (24), after Nigeria (20) and Kenya (9). These are also the markets that attracted the most venture capital and where unicorns (companies worth more than $ 1 billion) and would-be unicorns grew up, the Financial Times said.
Precious metals group Northam Platinum was ranked as the fastest growing company in South Africa (10th on the continental list), beating financial services group Long4Life (12th) and mining company Royal Bafokeng (14th). The largest South African company by market capitalization, Naspers, ranks 37th on the overall list.
| Company Name | sector | Absolute growth rates | Compound annual growth rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Northam Platinum Ltd. | Precious metals | 331.7% | 62.8% |
| Long4Life Ltd. | financial services | 304.9% | 59.4% |
| Royal Bafokeng Platinum Ltd. | Precious metals | 282.4% | 56.4% |
| eAdvance Pty Ltd. (SPARK schools) | Education | 276.3% | 55.5% |
| Yoco Technologies Pty Ltd. | fintech | 267.4% | 54.3% |
| Store Age Property REIT Ltd. | Support services | 158.0% | 37.2% |
| Entelect Software Pty Ltd. | Technology | 148.8% | 35.5% |
| Purple Group Ltd. | financial services | 118.3% | 29.7% |
| Anglo American Platinum Ltd. | Precious metals | 109.8% | 28.0% |
| Sea Harvest Group Ltd. | Food and Beverage | 105.3% | 27.1% |
| Nasper Ltd. | Average | 98.8% | 25.7% |
| Sygnia Ltd. | financial services | 98.4% | 25.7% |
| Leat Corp. | See in detail | 91.7% | 24.2% |
| The online training room | Education | 85.6% | 22.9% |
| Iser Pty. Ltd (Expert Shops) | See in detail | 73.5% | 20.2% |
| HearX Group Pty Ltd. | Technology | 70.1% | 19.4% |
| Afrimat Ltd. | Precious metals | 65.8% | 18.4% |
| Harmony Gold Mining Co. Ltd. | Precious metals | 50.0% | 14.5% |
| cognition holding ltd | Technology | 46.0% | 13.5% |
| Capital Ltd. transaction | financial services | 44.4% | 13.0% |
| Impala Platinum Holdings Ltd. | Precious metals | 43.3% | 12.8% |
| Gold Field Ltd. | Precious metals | 40.9% | 12.1% |
| Zulu Lounge SA Pty Ltd. | Personal and household items | 29.8% | 9.1% |