Economy
FSDH, Proshare, Mouka Ltd, 357 Other Firms to Inspire Africa in 2019
By Dipo Olowookere
The London Stock Exchange (NSE) on Wednesday said a total of 360 companies operating in 32 countries in Africa under seven major sectors have been identified to be the continent’s hotcakes in 2019.
In the report titled ‘Companies to Inspire Africa 2019’, it was said that Nigeria led with 97 companies, while Kenya followed with 66 organisations.
According to the report, 23 percent of the companies are led by women, almost double the proportion in the 2017 report, with standout sectors having senior female executives in Healthcare & Education and Financial Services.
The report pointed out that the fastest growing sectors are Financial Services and Renewable Energy with revenue growth rates of 70 percent and 66 percent respectively.
In addition, Consumer Services was the most represented sector with 79 companies from 20 countries this year, reflecting the growth of sub-sectors such as Consumer Goods, Food & Beverages, Leisure & Tourism, Media and Retail, and the growing middle class in Africa.
However, Agriculture remained an important sector for the continent with 53 companies, almost 15 percent of those featured.
The report identified that Nigeria further built on its leading position established in the 2017 Report with strong representation from the Industry and Technology & Telecom sectors, while the East-West African axis dominated this year’s report with 130 companies from Western Africa and 147 from Eastern Africa.
The report noted that the companies in this year’s report were creating significant employment opportunities across Africa with each company employing an average of 363 people.
Some of the companies from Nigeria listed were Afriland Properties Plc, ARM Life Plc, BudgIT Foundation, Co-Creation Hub Ltd, Eat ‘N’ Go Ltd, Ensure Insurance Plc, Farmcrowdy Ltd, FSDH Merchant Bank Ltd, Interswitch Ltd, Jumia, Lagoon Hospitals Group and Leadway Assurance Company Ltd.
Others were MainOne Cable Company Nigeria Ltd, Mouka Ltd, Niger Delta Exploration and Production Plc, Olori Cosmetics, Proshare Nigeria Ltd, PZ Cussons Nigeria Plc, RenMoney MFB Ltd, Seven-Up Bottling Company Plc, St. Nicholas Hospital Ltd, Swift Networks Ltd, SystemSpecs Ltd, Terragon Ltd, Wakanow.com Ltd and Whogohost Ltd.
Commenting, the CEO of the LSE, Mr David Schwimmer, explained that, “London Stock Exchange Group’s ‘Companies to Inspire Africa’ report showcases inspirational and entrepreneurial businesses from across the African continent, representing a wide variety of industries and countries.”
He added that, “It is particularly encouraging to see the increasing influence of women in leadership roles in these fast-growing companies, playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of African business.
“These high growth companies have the potential to transform the African economy and become tomorrow’s job creators. At LSEG, we are committed to helping companies realise that potential and we are pleased to highlight and celebrate the company success stories behind one of the world’s fastest growing markets.”
For Pierre Guislain, Vice President, Private Sector, Infrastructure and Industrialization, African Development Bank Group, “Through this partnership around Companies to Inspire Africa, we are joining efforts to build an information base to showcase African growth SMEs to a global investor audience. We also hope to encourage African enterprises to trade and invest with one another, create stronger value chains and expand into new markets. On behalf of the African Development Bank, I extend my congratulations to all the companies featured in this edition, along with our thanks to London Stock Exchange Group for the excellent collaboration on this important initiative.”
Rob Withagen, CEO and Co-Founder Asoko Insight, added that, “Access to Africa’s growth markets is increasingly a strategic priority for investors, multinationals and governments. However, aligning available investor capital to Africa’s private sector – particularly the wider middle market of growth companies – remains a challenge.
“The ‘Companies to Inspire Africa’ report makes an essential contribution to closing this ‘middle market’ gap. As a partner in the initiative, we have witnessed the enthusiasm among thousands of local corporates to set aside their reservations and share detailed insights into their promising businesses. Their participation sets the benchmark for transparency and performance in Africa’s corporate ecosystem, and will undoubtedly support accelerated investment into these exciting markets.”
Also, Nick O’Donohoe, Chief Executive Officer, CDC Group, said, “CDC Group has more than 70 years’ experience investing for growth in Africa so it’s a privilege to champion more than 360 high performing businesses recognised in today’s publication. These companies are led by some of the continent’s most dynamic management teams who are shaping the future of their industries.
“CDC plays a large role in backing Africa’s most ambitious businesses. We were proud to invest $180 million in the continent’s largest independent fibre and cloud provider, Liquid Telecom, who will deliver broadband connectivity to support SMEs from Cairo to Cape Town.
“With a further £3.5 billion to invest across Africa over the next three years, we plan to partner with many more strong management teams to help drive growth and prosperity through socially responsible business. We are thrilled to support the London Stock Exchange Group in highlighting the breadth of commercial talent and tenacity from Africa’s thriving business community.”
David Simonson, Managing Partner, Instinctif Partners, said, “Working with the Companies to Inspire Africa 2019 is truly inspiring – they reflect the entrepreneurial energy and skills present across the African continent and across all sectors. Instinctif is proud of its long-standing role in advising African businesses on their positioning and communications with stakeholders in their home markets and internationally, and we are looking forward to supporting this year’s cohort of companies in CTIA 2019 as they build on their business success.”
Uyi Akpata, West Africa Regional Senior Partner, PwC, said, “We are extremely honored to partner again with London Stock Exchange Group for the second ‘Companies to Inspire Africa’ report. At PwC, we view private businesses as a critical catalyst to job creation, economic growth, and innovation. Initiatives such as this help expose these companies to a global audience, and we hope will lead to further collaboration across border with London-based investors and strategic partners. It is also great to see the public sector represented here. It is an important testament to their commitment to supporting the private sector and continuing to drive improvements in ease of doing business.
“We are also looking forward to hosting the Lagos launch, especially given Nigeria has the single largest representation with 97 of the 360 companies. We at PwC are committed to supporting private businesses, and applaud London Stock Exchange Group for this initiative.” Tony Edwards, Partner and Head of Africa, Stephenson Harwood, said, “The quality and diversity of the companies identified in this excellent report is striking and gives a great snapshot of the evolution of African business. As a leading international law firm, with a wealth of experience advising companies, entrepreneurs, banks and Governments in Africa and international businesses investing there, we are incredibly pleased to be a part of this initiative. It provides an opportunity both to recognise the achievements of African companies and entrepreneurs and to help them and others on the next stage of their journey.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Chairman of the Presidential Fiscal Policy and Tax Reforms Committee, Mr Taiwo Oyedele, has said there are no discrepancies in the tax laws passed by the National Assembly and the gazetted versions made available to the public.
Last week, a member of the House of Representatives, Mr Abdussamad Dasuki, raised worries about the differences between its version and that gazetted by the presidency.
However, speaking on Channels Television’s Morning Brief on Monday, Mr Oyedele claimed what has been circulating in the media was fake.
“Before you can say there is a difference between what was gazetted and what was passed, we have what has not been gazetted. We don’t have what was passed,” he said.
“The official harmonised bills certified by the clerk, which the National Assembly sent to the President, we don’t have a copy to compare. Only the lawmakers can say authoritatively what we sent.
“It should be the House of Representatives or Senate version. It should be the harmonised version certified by the clerk. Even me, I cannot say that I have it. I only have what was presented to Mr President to sign.”
Mr Oyedele stated that he reached out to the House of Representatives Committee regarding a particular Section 41 (8), which states, “You have to pay a deposit of 20 per cent.”
He noted that the response given by the committee was that its members had not met on the issue.
“I know that particular provision is not in the final gazette, but it was in the draft gazette. Some people decided that they should write the report of the committee before the committee had met, and it had circulated everywhere.
“What is out there in the media did not come from the committee set up by the House of Representatives. I think we should allow them do the investigation,” Mr Oyedele added.
In June, President Bola Tinubu signed the four tax reform bills into law, marking what the government has described as the most significant overhaul of the country’s tax system in decades.
The tax reform laws, which faced stiff opposition from federal lawmakers from the northern part of the country before their passage, are scheduled to take effect on January 1, 2026.
The laws include the Nigeria Tax Act, the Nigeria Tax Administration Act, the Nigeria Revenue Service (Establishment) Act, and the Joint Revenue Board (Establishment) Act, all operating under a single authority, the Nigeria Revenue Service.
By Dipo Olowookere
A total of 55 equities appreciated last week on the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited versus the 49 equities recorded a week earlier.
However, 33 stocks closed lower compared with 41 stocks in the previous week, while 55 shares remained unchanged versus 57 shares of the preceding week.
Leading the advancers’ log was Aluminium Extrusion, which gained 59.35 per cent to close at N12.35, Mecure Industries rose by 44.93 per cent to N55.00, First Holdco appreciated by 42.93 per cent to N44.95, Guinness Nigeria improved by 33.01 per cent to N289.70, and NPF Microfinance Bank grew by 20.65 per cent to N3.74.
On the flip side, Living Trust Mortgage Bank lost 11.38 per cent to settle at N3.35, Japaul declined by 10.53 per cent to N2.38, International Energy Insurance slipped by 9.92 per cent to N2.27, FTN Cocoa depreciated by 9.80 per cent to N4.42, and Stanbic IBTC went down by 9.33 per cent to N95.20.
The buying interest in the week raised the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation by 1.76 per cent to 152,057.38 points and N96.937 trillion, respectively.
Similarly, all other indices finished higher with the exception of AFR Bank Value, and the energy indices, which fell by 1.38 per cent and 0.17 per cent apiece.
According to trading data, a total 9.849 billion shares worth N305.843 billion in 126,584 deals exchanged hands in the five-day trading week compared with the 4.373 billion shares valued at N97.783 billion traded in 110,736 deals a week earlier.
The financial services industry led the activity chart with 8.295 billion shares valued at N232.223 billion traded in 50,351 deals, contributing 84.22 per cent and 75.93 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
The healthcare space followed with 517.443 million shares worth N3.472 billion in 2,979 deals, and the consumer goods counter transacted 392.765 million shares worth N12.664 billion in 18,438 deals.
The trio of Ecobank, First Holdco, and Access Holdings accounted for 6.424 billion shares worth N204.629 billion in 11,362 deals, contributing 65.23 per cent and 66.91 per cent to the total trading volume and value, respectively.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The Nigerian Export Promotion Council (NEPC) has assured beneficiaries of the $50 million Women Exporters in the Digital Economy (WEIDE) Fund to expect the first tranche of grants in the first quarter of 2026, following the completion of ongoing capacity-building and compliance processes.
The assurance was given during a Town Hall Meeting for WEIDE Fund beneficiaries held in Abuja over the weekend. The gathering provided an opportunity to review progress made since the launch of the initiative in August 2025.
The $50 million WEIDE Fund is a global initiative by the WTO and ITC to empower women-led businesses in developing countries, especially Nigeria, by providing training, finance, and market access for digital trade, helping them grow from small enterprises to global players through support like grants and mentorship, as seen in its launch phase benefiting 146 Nigerian women entrepreneurs.
Speaking at the event, the chief executive of NEPC, Mrs Nonye Ayeni, called on beneficiaries to maximize the opportunities provided by the programme, emphasizing the progress made and the milestones achieved since its launch.
Mrs Ayeni said the engagement was meant to review the programme’s achievements, identify areas for improvement, and strengthen support for the beneficiaries.
“So, it’s time for us to get together at the end of the year to see how far we’ve gone, how well we’ve done, and what we need to do to make it better and support them more effectively through the WEIDE Fund,” she said.
Mrs Ayeni highlighted the significant capacity-building activities conducted for the 146 selected women entrepreneurs, noting that top-tier coaches and trainers had been deployed immediately after the official launch by the Director General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO), Mrs Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala.
“These coaches are exceptional. They’ve trained our beneficiaries in financial literacy, bookkeeping, soft skills, leadership, succession planning, and digital tools so they can compete globally,” she said.
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