Kenya’s Safaricom ranks among 10 most valuable companies in Africa

Kenya’s giant mobile operator, Safaricom has been ranked among the 10 most valuable companies in Africa in 2020.

A report by South African-based business magazine, African Business indicates that Safaricom value presently stands at 9.96 billion dollars (Sh1.06 trillion), making it the 10th most valuable company on the continent down from position 14 last year.

The list of 250 top companies on the continent is dominated by South African companies with Safaricom and Morocco’s telecom giant, Maroc Telecom being the only corporations outside South Africa ranked in the top 10.

Safaricom, Equity Group, East Africa Breweries Ltd (EABL), and Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) were the only Kenyan companies that made it to the top 100 list. Equity was ranked 82nd, EABL 90th, and KCB 92nd.

South Africa’s technology company Prospus is rated as the most valuable company in Africa with a value of Sh12.74 trillion.

Prospus was followed by Naspers, Financière Richemont, Anglo American, Anglo American Platinum, Firstrand, and Vodacom Group, all from South Africa.

Maroc Telecom (Morocco) was ranked eighth, followed by Standard Bank Group (SA) awhile Safaricom closed the top ten most valuable African companies.

Other Kenyan companies on the list include Cooperative Bank (110), Standard Chartered Bank (120), I&M Holdings (158), British American Tobacco (178), KenGen (190), and Diamond Trust Bank (225).

Companies in the technology industry took the lion’s share in the ranking with 19.9 percent, followed by Finance at 15 percent.