Nigerian B2B e-commerce startup OmniRetail Tops FT Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies list

Nigeria’s OmniRetail, a B2B e-commerce startup, is the fastest-growing company in Africa, according to the Financial Times ranking of the fastest-growing companies in Africa. This year’s list is the third edition, and ranks companies according to cumulative annual growth revenues, is dominated by South African and Nigerian firms.

OmniRetail, a startup founded in 2019, grew its revenues by 772.39% in 2022, to $139.8 million.

Mauritian Kyosk Digital, a B2B platform that connects retailers to FMCG manufacturers, was ranked second at 647.37% CAGR followed by South African employment services firm Resourgenix Pty Ltd at 542.65%. The two companies had revenues of $155 million and $33 million respectively.

Moniepoint, one of Nigeria’s biggest payment startups, and commodities brokerage Afex Commodities Exchange closed out the top five with revenues of $149 million and $415 million respectively.

Of the 125 companies that made it to this year’s list, 42 were South African, 25 were Nigeria, while Kenya and Morocco had 12 companies each.

This year’s list continues the dominance of B2B startups on the continent. While 2023’s list was topped by Afex and Moniepoint, both fintechs, e-commerce firms had the most slots– highlighting the growing popularity of models disrupting retail distribution on the continent.

In this year’s edition, the FT said that the ranking recorded a wider spread of companies. The previous lists were dominated by countries that attract the highest startup funding–South Africa, Nigeria, and Kenya.