A recently released report has named the most thriving companies in Africa. Notably, the Africa Top 250 Companies 2025 report by African Business showed that Kenya had 10 companies featured.
The companies cut across telecom, banking, and consumer goods. Below is a snapshot of Kenya’s corporate titans, with their market values as of March 31, 2023. The Kenyan shilling equivalents are based on the current exchange rate of 1 USD = Sh 129.
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| Rank (2025) | Company | Industry | Market Value ($M USD) | Market Value (Sh B) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 25 | Safaricom | Wireless Telecommunications | 5,473.10 | 705.02 |
| 88 | Equity Group | Regional Banks | 1,295.90 | 167.22 |
| 109 | East African Breweries | Food Distributors | 1,014.60 | 130.88 |
| 113 | KCB Group | Regional Banks | 861.00 | 111.03 |
| 125 | Standard Chartered Bank Kenya | Regional Banks | 484.80 | 62.56 |
| 137 | Absa Bank Kenya | Regional Banks | 524.70 | 67.69 |
| 155 | Co-operative Bank of Kenya | Regional Banks | 582.30 | 75.12 |
| 161 | NCBA Group | Major Banks | 456.30 | 58.86 |
| 202 | Stanbic | Regional Banks | 328.20 | 42.34 |
| 225 | I&M Group | Regional Banks | 260.20 | 33.79 |
Note: Market values are based on data as of March 31, 2023.
Top 10 companies in Africa by market value
The report showed that South African companies dominated the top 10 on the continent, with major players coming from the telecommunications, media, banking, and manufacturing sectors.
Here are the top 10 companies in Africa:
Of course! Here’s the list with numbering:
- Naspers (South Africa) – Media/Internet
- FirstRand (South Africa) – Bank
- Standard Bank Group (South Africa) – Bank
- Gold Fields (South Africa) – Mining
- Capitec Bank (South Africa) – Bank
- Anglogold Ashanti (South Africa) – Precious Metals
- Attijariwafa Bank (Morocco) – Bank
- Vodacom Group (South Africa) – Telco
- MTN Group (South Africa) – Telco
- Maroc Telecom (Morocco) – Telco
Within East Africa, Safaricom maintained its lead.
In its full-year results released on May 9, 2025, the telco announced that it had become the first East African company to surpass $3 billion in revenue.
Safaricom Kenya’s profit after tax stood at Sh 95.5 billion, up from KSh 84 billion recorded in 2024.
According to CEO Peter Ndegwa, Safaricom Ethiopia is still recording a net loss, which he attributed to, among other factors, foreign exchange (FX) challenges in Ethiopia.
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“Safaricom entered the Ethiopian market in 2021 after securing a license. They launched commercial operations in 2022 and have since invested $1.22 billion to build out their infrastructure. In just three years, they’ve rolled out 3,100 4G-enabled sites—about half the size of their Kenyan network. Thanks to this investment, the number of customers in Ethiopia has grown rapidly to 9 million. However, like any big expansion, it came with initial “startup losses,” which the company expected.
Now that the network is well established, customer recruitment has picked up speed. Safaricom has also launched M-PESA in Ethiopia, which is expected to further boost growth.The company projects that by 2027, the Ethiopian business will become EBITDA-positive (profitable before interest, tax, and depreciation). Starting next year, Safaricom expects the losses to reduce significantly and the Ethiopia unit to start contributing positively to the Kenyan business. In the current financial year, Ethiopia contributed 10% of Safaricom’s overall growth. That figure is expected to grow to 20–25% next year, marking a significant turning point for the group,” he said
