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 Aduragbemi Omiyale
One of the leading local energy firms, Oando Plc, delivered an impressive financial performance in the first six months of 2026, according to details of its results filed to the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited.
Between January and June 2026, revenue surged by 20 per cent to N2.1 trillion from N1.7 trillion in the same period of 2025, driven by growth in the Exploration & Production and Trading segments of the business.
Also, the net profit grew by 8 per cent year-on-year to N68.6 billion from N63.3 billion, supported by improved operating profits and tax credits.
It was observed that the organisation deepened its domestic gas monetisation portfolio with the commencement of long-term gas supply of 11.2 MMscfd to the newly commissioned 60 MW Bayelsa Independent Power Plant.
“The first half of 2026 marks an important inflexion point in Oando’s journey. Over the past two years, our priority has been to successfully integrate one of the most significant upstream acquisitions in Africa and unlock the full value of our expanded portfolio. The progress achieved during the period demonstrates that we are now delivering the operational and financial outcomes expected from that transformation,” the chief executive of Oando, Mr Adewale Tinubu, stated.
Commenting further on the results, Mr Tinubu said, “Operational efficiency underpinned our performance during the period as we strengthened asset integrity, improved facility reliability and reinforced security across our operating areas, resulting in average facility uptime of 92 per cent while reducing production operating costs by 18 per cent to $16.83 per boe.”
“Our development programme also gathered significant momentum during the period as we successfully drilled and completed two land development wells, with an additional land well currently being drilled, while mobilising a second drilling rig to accelerate activity across our operated portfolio.
“In parallel, we continued an extensive programme of rig-less well interventions designed to restore production, sustain plateau output and mitigate natural field decline. Together, these activities increased average production to 42,789 boepd, representing 16 per cent year-on-year growth.
“This translated into a stronger financial performance, with revenue increasing by 20 per cent to N2.1 trillion, while the business generated N179.5 billion in operating cash, improving liquidity. Profit after tax also increased by 8 per cent to N68.6 billion, reflecting the overall improvement in operating performance during the period,” he pointed out.
The Oando chief also said, “Looking ahead in 2026, our priorities remain firmly centred on completing our seven-well drilling programme and portfolio-wide well intervention campaign while delivering production of circa 50,000 boepd.
“Beyond 2026, our identified inventory of 62 development wells, supported by 55 planned well interventions, provides a clear pathway towards our medium-term production ambition of approximately 100,000 boepd.
“Furthermore, we shall execute an intensive fundraising and balance sheet restructuring programme to optimise our capital structure, strengthen our financial position, improve working capital, enhance financial flexibility and ensure the business is appropriately funded to accelerate growth and maximise long-term shareholder value.
“We have built a resilient operating platform and established a clear roadmap for growth. Our focus is now on translating our significant opportunities into higher production, a stronger balance sheet and superior long-term returns for our shareholders.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Africa-focused fintech company PalmPay has joined the ranks of unicorn startups after attaining a valuation of more than $1 billion, as the digital payment platform prepares for a potential initial public offering (IPO) in Hong Kong.
According to a report by Bloomberg on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, the Hong Kong-headquartered company is in advanced discussions to raise about $200 million in a new funding round that would cement its unicorn status and support its next phase of expansion.
The planned fundraising comes as PalmPay accelerates its growth strategy across Africa and Asia, while positioning itself for a public listing that could become one of the most significant fintech IPOs involving an Africa-focused company in recent years.
PalmPay’s move follows a period of rapid growth in Nigeria, where it has become one of the country’s largest digital financial services providers. Alongside OPay and Moniepoint, the company forms the trio that dominates Nigeria’s retail digital payments and agency banking market, a segment driven by millions of point-of-sale (POS) transactions processed daily.
With PalmPay’s latest valuation milestone, all three leading Nigerian fintechs have now achieved unicorn status. While OPay has previously disclosed plans to pursue a listing in the United States, Moniepoint has remained focused on expanding its banking and business services without publicly indicating IPO ambitions.
Founded in 2019 after securing a Mobile Money Operator (MMO) licence from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), PalmPay has built one of the country’s fastest-growing fintech ecosystems. The company says it now serves more than 35 million registered users and over 600,000 merchants, supported by an extensive network of more than 500,000 mobile money agents nationwide.
The platform offers a broad suite of financial services, including peer-to-peer transfers, bill payments, airtime purchases, savings, credit products, merchant payment solutions and agency banking services. PalmPay says it processes as many as 15 million transactions daily, reflecting the increasing adoption of digital payments across Nigeria.
Beyond its home market, the fintech has expanded into Tanzania, Ghana, and Bangladesh, underscoring its ambition to become a leading emerging-market digital bank. Industry analysts view the expansion as part of a broader strategy to diversify revenue streams while replicating its Nigerian success in other underbanked markets.
PalmPay has attracted backing from prominent global investors, including Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer MediaTek and smartphone maker Transsion Holdings, whose Tecno, Infinix and itel brands command significant market share across Africa. Their support has helped PalmPay leverage smartphone penetration to drive financial inclusion through mobile-first banking services.
As part of efforts to strengthen its leadership ahead of its next growth phase, PalmPay recently appointed Mr Samuel Oluyemi as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for its Nigerian business. Mr Oluyemi joined the company after more than two decades at the Nigeria Inter-Bank Settlement System (NIBSS), where he played key roles in developing the country’s digital payments infrastructure.
If completed, the fundraising and eventual Hong Kong listing would further underscore growing international investor confidence in African fintech companies despite a more cautious global venture capital environment. The proceeds are expected to support PalmPay’s geographical expansion, deepen its product offerings, invest in technology infrastructure and strengthen its competitive position in Africa’s rapidly evolving digital financial services industry.
By Adedapo Adesanya
Market bellwethers, Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc, lifted the NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange by 2.08 per cent on Monday, August 3.
CSCS Plc, the Nigerian securities depository company, gained N10.00 to close at N112.00 per share compared with the previous session’s N102.00 per share, and FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc advanced by N4.71 to quote at N152.64 per unit versus last Friday’s N147.93 per unit.
As a result, the NASD Security Index (NSI) added 92.14 points to finish at 4,523.85 points compared with the preceding session’s 4,431.71 points, and the market capitalisation appreciated by N55.31 billion to N2.715 trillion from N2.659 trillion.
Business Post reports that the price of MRS Oil Plc crashed during the trading day by N12.00 to N120.00 per share from N132.00 per share, and UBN Property Plc dipped by 3 Kobo to N1.90 per unit from N1.93 per unit.
Trading data showed that the volume of securities exchanged rose by 113.1 per cent to 1.5 million units from 690,990 units, and the number of deals climbed by 19.2 per cent to 31 deals from 26 deals, while the value of securities slid by 13.1 per cent to N65.2 million from N75.0 million.
Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc remained the most traded stock by value on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, followed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and CSCS Plc with 76.8 million units traded for N5.5 billion.
GNI Plc also closed the session as the most traded stock by volume on a year-to-date basis, with 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units exchanged for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units transacted for N415.7 million.
