At the close of year 2022, UK-based Financial Times (FT) released its inaugural annual ranking of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies – and one of Ghana’s foremost Fintech firms, IT Consortium, was among the top-20 at number 17.
The ranking, according to FT, provides a snapshot of the corporate landscape in a continent where technology, fintech and support-service businesses have had to adapt to a radically altered environment. The rankings were based on a set of six criteria measured between 2017 and 2020 by Statista, a globally highly reputed leading provider of market and consumer data.
A total of 75 companies were included in the ranking, and only four Ghanaian firms made the list. Apart from IT Consortium, the three other Ghanaian firms were ZEN Petroleum at 29; Landtours Ghana Limited at 46; and Benso Oil Palm Plantation at 70.
Per the metrics used, IT Consortium – which was established in 2001 – made the following scores:
- Absolute growth rate – 271.428% (between 2017 and 2020).
- Compound annual growth rate – 54.866%
- Revenue 2020 – US$4.644million
- Revenue – 2017 – US$1.608million
- Number of Employees 2020 – 73
- Number of employees 2017 – 35
It was not a surprise that IT Consortium made the cut on the maiden FT rankings, as the company has consistently maintained an impressive position on the Ghana Club100 list for a while now. For instance, in 2021 the company secured a top-five position at number five; while in 2022 it was in the top-20 at number 14.
IT Consortium is one of Africa’s leading financial services technology solutions providers, with a simple mission to provide innovative systems that bring obvious value to its patrons. The company prides itself with adapting technology to create systems that provide clear competitive advantages to its customers, which include state institutions as well as scores of financial, telecoms and other corporate institutions and individual across Africa.
Meanwhile, top of the FT rankings was Kenyan tech company Wasoko, which is one of several tech companies on the continent seeking to cut the cost of doing business in the massive informal commerce sector by helping deliver goods to traders more efficiently.
Wasoko recorded an absolute growth rate of 8,782.594 percent between 2017 and 2020, at a compound annual growth rate of 346.183 percent.
But the company that recorded the highest revenue in both 2017 and 2020 was Anglo American Platinum Limited, which stood at number 36 on the rankings. Its revenue in 2017 was US$4.93billion, and it almost doubled to US$8.37billion in 2020.
In terms of quantity, South Africa dominated the list with 24 companies followed by Nigeria with 20, then Kenya came in third with 9 followed by Egypt at 6. These four countries, according to FT, are also the markets that have attracted the most venture capital and where unicorns (companies valued at US$1billion+) and would-be unicorns have proliferated. It is also worthy of note that more than 15 fintech, digital, technology and tech-based support services firms also made the list.
But not all the fastest-expanding companies are high-tech. Some of them are into more traditional businesses – such as mining and construction, real-estate, energy, travel and tour and agribusiness among others. The ranking’s custodians acknowledged that: “Because many fast-growing companies are privately held and do not publicly disclose detailed financial data, a ranking such as this can never claim to be complete”.
They however noted that the rigorous screening process, which also requires senior executives to sign-off the figures submitted by their companies, means the ranking can offer a meaningful insight into the health of these private businesses.
