AFEX tops Financial Times’ ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies

AFEX, Nigeria’s commodity market player and a private sector commodities exchange, has been ranked number one in the Financial Times (FT) rating of Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies – Agriculture & Commodities category for 2022.

The listing of Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies compiled by the Financial Times features advanced, modern, and thriving businesses fueling the global economy in this 21st century.

The company topped the list by exhibiting its sales growth. It has launched the first Asset-Backed Commercial Paper listed on an African Commodities Exchange. It has also added over 350,000 digital farmers to their WorkBench platform.

Despite thousands of applicants, only 75 companies made the cut. In collaboration with Statista, Financial Times ranks these 75 companies with the fastest revenue growth in Africa between 2017 and 2020. And, AFEX emerged first in the list of Nigeria’s fastest-growing firms and third place overall in Africa’s fastest-growing companies.

We’re delighted to have come top of the FT’s Africa’s fastest-growing Agriculture & Commodities list. It is a significant accomplishment and recognises the work we have been doing over the past eight years. Although the global pandemic has proved challenging over the past two years, we’ve worked extremely hard to improve Africa’s commodity market. Innovations such as our Electronic Warehouse Receipts System (e-WRS) use blockchain technology to help farmers access credit safely.

Ayodeji Balogun, CEO at AFEX

The company has assisted farmers in the country’s major grain-growing states. In Nigeria and Kenya, its operates 126 warehouses with a total storage capacity of 120,000MT.

Read Also: AFEX hosts session at Africa Tech Summit, promoting the convergence of tech, finance & agriculture

About AFEX

Since its inception in 2014 as Nigeria’s first licensed private commodities exchange, AFEX has been committed to advancing Africa’s agro-tech sector. In the last eight years, AFEX says it has assisted over 350,00 farmers and fed over 4,000,000 people. Africa’s commodities and talent are harnessed through AFEX to create shared wealth and development.

Its infrastructural and platform investments seek to free up capital in Africa’s commodities markets, encouraging a trust economy to develop.

AFEX has created and deployed a sustainable commodities exchange model for the West African market and it is on course to impact one million producers by delivering productivity and value capture services, as well as access to finance and markets.

By bridging the gap between agro-processors and investors, AFEX improves food security and efficiency in food production.

AFEX future goals

AFEX’s mission goal is to become Africa’s leading commodity exchange. It aims to achieve this goal by introducing products that de-risk the industry, promote access to finance in rural communities, create data collecting and market access technology, and facilitate capital deployment.

The company hopes to expand into new markets to broaden access and create a more inclusive and profitable ecosystem that is beneficial. With this, the company has recently expanded to Kenya, and is looking at a big launching in Côte D’Ivoire. 

The company expects to enable trade with Africa worth more than $500 million in the next five years by implementing an effective market structure.