BCG report highlights “African Challengers”

Boston Consulting Group’s recent piece on Africa’s economic expansion over the past decade highlights forty companies in particular that it calls its “African Challengers”, chosen following a vetting process that included minimum annual revenue, growth rates, cash flow, leverage ratios, exports and foreign-based employees, assets, acquisitions and partnerships.  While admittedly “top-heavy” (the five largest firms represent over half of the list’s sales), smaller companies earned recognition based in part on their degree of international presence. Tunisia’s Groupe Elloumi, for instance, owns Coficab, mentioned in this space earlier in the week and the second largest supplier of automotive wires in the Euro-Mediterranean region (as well as one of the top five globally).  Coficab has operations in Morocco, Portugal, Romania and Turkey, and a subsidiary is planning further expansion in Germany.