Kenya has the fastest growing Fintech sector in Africa.
The Financial Times (FT) has published its first annual ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies. In the twenty-first century global economy, the list covers companies that are forward-thinking, cutting-edge, and fast expanding.
According to the report, South Africa has the most companies in the ranking, with 24, followed by Nigeria (20) and Kenya (14). (9). These are also the markets that have attracted the most venture capital, resulting in an influx of unicorns (companies worth $1 billion or more) and would-be unicorns.
Fintech companies make up five of the top 75 high-growth companies in Africa this year. The fintech firms that made the Financial Times’ annual list of Africa’s fastest-growing enterprises are listed below.
Flocash Limited (Kenya)
Flocash is a Middle East and African payment services company for big cross-border commercial payments. The Kenyan technology company, which was founded in 2013, had $27.4 million in revenue and employed 80 people in 2020.
IT Consortium Ltd. (Ghana)
Since 2001, ITC, a wholly-owned Ghanaian company and one of Africa’s leading financial services technology solutions providers, has been developing products and services aimed at increasing financial inclusion and creating value for end-users.
In 2020, the company generated $4.6 million in revenue with a workforce of 73 individuals.
Yoco Technologies Pty Ltd. (South Africa)
Yoco is a technology company based in Africa that develops tools and services to help small businesses get paid, run their businesses more efficiently, and thrive. South African fintech has positioned itself as the go-to platform for retailers looking to access offline payments since its introduction in 2013. In 2020, the company produced $13.9 million in revenue with a workforce of 149 individuals.
Accelerex Global Ltd. (Nigeria)
Global Accelerex Limited is a financial technology company that focuses in offering digital payment solutions and services to consumers in Sub-Saharan Africa’s developing economies across a variety of industries.
In 2020, the company produced $16.8 million in revenue with a workforce of 389 individuals.
M-KOPA Holdings Ltd. (Kenya)
M-KOPA provides connected asset lending solutions to underbanked clients in major countries across Sub-Saharan Africa. The company’s financing platform, which combines digital micropayments and IoT connectivity, offers solar lighting, televisions, refrigerators, cellphones, financial services, and other products.
Since its beginnings more than a decade ago, M-KOPA has connected over 600,000 families in East Africa to solar electricity, with more than 500 new homes added to its network every day. In 2020, the company generated $88 million in revenue with a workforce of 1,102 employees.
The Financial Times ranking, which was created in collaboration with data partner Statista, attempts to identify the African businesses with the fastest revenue growth between 2017 and 2020. Their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) and absolute growth rate are used to rank them.
