Kenyan retailer Quickmart Limited was on Tuesday, May 3, named among Africa's fastest-growing companies in Africa by the international business publication, Financial Times.
In a ranking seen by Kenyans.co.ke, the retailer was ranked eleventh in the continent, posting an absolute growth rate of 311 per cent and a compound annual growth rate of 60.2 per cent.
Founded in 2006, the supermarket franchise recorded impressive growth in its annual revenue and staff members and was the top ranking retail store in Africa, trouncing competition from Nigeria and South Africa.
Technology company Wasoko, formerly Sokowatch, emerged as the fastest-growing company while fintech Flocash Limited came in second. The two Kenyan companies posted 8,782 and 5,160 absolute growth rates respectively.
"Wasoko is one of the several 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. It achieved the highest CAGR in revenues between and raised $125 million in a Series B funding round in March," the report read in part.
Other Kenyan enterprises featured on the list include Lori Systems (transport), which ranked seventh, Africa's Talking (tech) and e-commerce company Copia which concluded the top 20 slots.
ASA International Kenya (financial services), East African Business Company (agricultural commodities), M-Kopa (fintech) and Impax Business Solutions (tech) ranked positions 32, 41, 51and 67 respectively.
Kenya is the third most represented country in the ranking, with nine companies, coming after South Africa (24) and Nigeria (20). Furthermore, they attracted the most venture capital and proliferation of unicorns, companies valued at over Ksh115 billion (USD1 billion) and would-be unicorns.
The 75 companies evaluated needed to meet certain criteria. They needed to be independent entities and the revenue generated within the assessment period must be primarily organic.
The new report confirms an earlier ranking published in January 2022 where Nairobi emerged as the second-best city for start-ups to thrive in Africa. StartupBlink named Kenya's capital as a technology hub.
In addition, it was labelled a beloved destination for investors and multinationals like Oracle Corporation, Cisco, IBM, Coca-Cola and Google who have headquarters in Kenya.
