Safaricom is the only Kenyan business listed on the prestigious ‘Forbes Global 2000’ list of the leading 2000 public companies in the world. The firms are ranked based on their sales, profit, assets and market value.
Safaricom posted $2.4 (KSh240) billion in sales in the last financial year with its profit hitting $623 million (KSh63 billion).
In 2019, only 17 companies based in Africa made it on the list. Ten of the public firms are from South Africa, three from Morocco, and two from Nigeria. Banks and financial institutions dominated the African list.
South Africa’s Standard Bank Group emerged as the top African company on the 2019 Forbes list. The group has a market value of$22.9 billion (KSh2.3 trillion). It posted $9 (KSh909) billion in sales, and a net profit of $2.1 (KSh212) billion in the latest financial report.
Other notable African businesses on the list are; Dangote Group, Absa Group, Commercial International Bank, and MTN Group. The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China was ranked as the top company on the Forbes list for the 7th consecutive year. 575 firms on the ranking are based in the US.
