in Depth

Wealth creators

Our exclusive ranking of Africa’s top 500 companies

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Top 500 African Champions 2023: a user’s guide to our annual ranking Which are the best performing companies on the continent? Who, among the 1,200 largest African companies, have best withstood successive crises, from ...

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Ranking Breakdown

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Top 500 Companies: A year of rebound as cumulative turnover hits $665bn A fanfare of recovery is how our ranking of the top 500 African companies might be best described, with profits amount to $80,84bn in total. For this ...

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heavy hitters

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Top 500 African Corporate Champions 2023: Dangote, MTN, Sonatrach… Our exclusive ranking After analyzing the results of more than 1200 companies, we unveil our exclusive ranking of the 500 most important companies of the continent.

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Records

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African corporate champions see bumper profits as post-Covid recovery kicks in The average net margin in our 2023 ranking has more than quadrupled, with companies in the extractive industry leading the way.

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new finance models

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Dangote, Orange… Africa’s champions in the era of “lean growth” Faced with the rising cost of credit, large groups like Dangote, TGCC and Orange have competing strategies in their approach to capital.

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All about numbers?

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Kenya: Safaricom CEO Ndegwa leads charge on Ethiopia subsidiary Renowned for his execution skills and mastery of financial matters, Peter Ndegwa is a man who avoids the political sphere. After nearly three years at...

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Boosting growth

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South Africa: Shoprite’s Africa downsizing, home consolidation pay off Two years after it culled a number of its stores across Africa to consolidate their operation at home, Shoprite feels emboldened by its decision with ...

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Still competitors

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How Egyptair is collaborating with Ethiopian Airlines despite tensions The prolonged tensions between Cairo and Addis Ababa over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam did not prevent Egyptair, Africa’s number two airline, f...

Senelec’s Bel Air generation plant, in Dakar’s industrial zone

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lighting up

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Eskom, Eneo, Senelec… African governments faced with spiralling power costs Africa’s national electricity companies are caught between the anvil of spiralling energy bills and the hammer of social anger over rising prices.

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port sale

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After Bolloré takeover, MSC becomes the undisputed African logistics champion The acquisition last December of the French logistics company’s network of ports and railways by MSC for 5.7bn euros is, all sectors taken together, t...

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Multiple sectors

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East Africa’s diversified economy helps mitigate headwinds East Africa is more diversified than other regions on the continent, which helps it mitigate global headwinds. Seven East African companies with yearl...

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Lagos giants

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NNPC, Dangote Cement, NLNG… Nigeria rules roost in ranking of West African companies With eight companies in the Top 10 of the leading West African companies, including NNPC and Dangote Cement, Nigeria is positioning itself as the fact...

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miners climb

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Sonangol and Sasol show how Southern Africa was lifted by commodity bounce Of the top 100 hundred Southern African companies, 88 are from South Africa; an indication of the domination that Rainbow nation blue chips firms have...

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steel & mining

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Morocco, Egypt companies drive North African champions ranking Steel, mining and even outsourcing have enabled North African groups to record good performances in 2021-2022.

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congo underground

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Kibali Gold, Gécamines, Kamoa… DRC miners make their mark among Central Africa’s champions The mining companies of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are steadily moving up in our regional ranking of Central Africa’s corporate champions....

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info deficit

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Open up the books! To attract capital, Africa’s corporate titans must be legible Ranking the 500 largest groups operating in Africa is a collective exercise like no other. As tedious and methodical as it is, it requires time, patie...

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