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Rabat – London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) has launched a new “Companies to inspire Africa” ??initiative, which puts forward the most dynamic companies on the continent.
The 2017 edition lists 343 companies from 42 African countries as the continent’s most exciting and dynamic small businesses, including 32 Moroccan companies. The Moroccan contingent alone accounts for half of the companies in North Africa on the list. Nigeria (58), South Africa (54) and Kenya (50) are the most represented countries just ahead of Morocco.
The companies listed come from 42 countries and operate in seven major sectors: agriculture, consumer services, financial services, industry, renewable energy, technology, telecom and health.
Industry, which covers areas such as oil and gas, construction, manufacturing and chemicals, is the biggest sector, with 23% of companies. This is followed by Financial Services which includes mobile banking, micro-credit, disruptive technology and Fintech, with 16 percent. This is an indication that the continent has great promise for both traditional and more recent economic success stories.
Their turnover increased by 16 percent on average per year over the period 2013-2015.
The company CEOs were welcomed to the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) by the International Development Secretary Priti Patel and Xavier Rolet, CEO of London Stock Exchange Group at a special lunch event to celebrate African companies’ success, ambition and uniquely African entrepreneurial spirit. They were also joined by a broad range of Africa-focused investors, as well as senior representatives of the African Development Bank Group, CDC Group and PwC.
Xavier Rolet, Chief Executive of the London Stock Exchange Group said that “We are delighted to release the first edition of London Stock Exchange Group’s ‘Companies to Inspire Africa,’ which follows the success of our research focused on the UK and European SMEs. For the first time ever, we have identified hundreds of Africa’s most inspirational and dynamic private companies. This initiative demonstrates the huge role that small and medium sized enterprises are playing as the driving force behind African economies: developing skills, creating high quality jobs and delivering growth.”
This new LSEG initiative is in addition to others such as the ELITE program. LSEG is planning several events in major cities across the continent in the coming weeks. Casablanca will host one of them on May 9.
