The Top 100 CEOs in Africa: The Best-Performing CEOs in Africa in 2024

2nd Jan 2025 | Source: African CEO Media Corporation

The chief executive role is a tough one to fill. From 2020 to 2024, about a quarter of the CEO departures in Africa were involuntary, according to our analysis. The fallout from these dismissals can be staggering: Forced turnover at the top costs shareholders millions of dollars in lost market value annually. Those figures are discouraging for directors with the hard task of anointing CEOs—and daunting to any leader aspiring to the C-suite. Many otherwise capable leaders and boards are getting something wrong. The question is, what?

The knock on most business leaders is that they don't take the long view—that they're fixated on achieving short-term goals to lift their pay. So which African CEOs delivered solid results over the long run? Our 2024 list of top performers provides an answer.

It is worth noting that most of Africa's top-performing CEOs aren't household names. The AfricanCEO magazine's ranking of CEOs is meant to be a measure of enduring success. We tracked and analysed each CEO's performance starting from day one of his or her tenure. Our goal is to create a list that gets beyond the most recent quarterly or even annual results and truly evaluates long-term performance.

Our ranking is not based exclusively on hard stock market numbers. We looked at total shareholder return, as well as the change in each company's market capitalization. (For more details, see "How We Calculated the Ranking.")

We like that the ranking is based solidly on data and not on reputation or anecdote. Yet it also felt incomplete because it failed to account for the many aspects of leadership that go beyond mere market performance.

In the long term, social and environmental issues become financial issues. So, we took into account measuring each company's environmental, social, and governance (ESG) performance. For this, we relied on researching each company's ESG or sustainability report. We now weigh long-term financial results at 80% and ESG performance at 20%.

Our methodology focuses on CEOs who took the reins before 2020 though there are a few exceptions. We analysed the performance of those CEOs as well, using the returns generated from 2020 onward. The decision to add CEOs who began before 2020 also shook up our ranking. About seventy percent of this year's top 100 started the job before then, meaning few are new in the CEO role.

At the AfricanCEO magazine, we continue to experiment with the perfect measure of a CEO's worth, and we look forward to getting our readers' input. Are we right to include these critical, but less easily quantifiable, measures?

Are there further ways of fully evaluating companies and their CEOs?

Our view is that, in an era of big data and greater transparency, consumers and investors increasingly want to understand a company's culture and values. They want to analyse its social behaviour, not just its share price. These new measurements will only get better over time.

Peter SaSellu, the publisher and editor of the AfricanCEO magazine argues that "the business of business is longer business." As Peter puts it, "I would change that to say the business of business is business—but with a long-term perspective." And in that calculation, social and environmental issues are critical.

What's included and how did we do the ranking?

The 100 CEOs represent 18 nationalities and 100 companies located in 18 African countries. Women represent 15 percent of their male counterparts, which is a significant move towards having more women in leadership or CEO roles in large corporations on the continent.

However, many CEOs in Francophone countries often move from country to country, making it difficult to track their progress. We also took into consideration stability on the job or job retention as a CEO. With this, we discovered that Nigerian CEOs last longer on the job or in the CEO position when compared to CEOs in other regions or mostly Francophone countries. Little or Less information is "readily" available on Francophone country CEOs as to those of the English-speaking CEOs or regions. This posed a major challenge in our analysis.

To make it an Africa-centred initiative, only CEOs who are of African origin or nationals of African countries are considered, even though non-African or foreign CEOs are heading companies with larger assets in many African markets.

In conclusion, Nigerian CEOs top the list because they have more available information compared to CEOs from other countries or regions, followed by Kenya and South Africa with more accessible information such as CEO tenure, age, education and qualification, date of appointment, etc.

About the African CEO magazine's Top 100 CEOs List

The African CEO magazine's Top 100 CEOs in Africa annual list is an initiative to profile the Best-Performing CEOs on the continent. The list is calculated by measuring financial returns during each CEO's entire tenure and factoring in two assessments of each company's environmental, social, and governance practices. Africa's Top 100 CEOs initiative will help drive discussion of how society should measure a business leader's performance. The goal of the listing is to help promote discussions in the business environment focusing on leadership, growth/return on investment, ESG, and sustainability across Africa.

The editorial team considers and priorities CEOs whose companies are listed on a stock exchange because their companies are regulated because they follow strict rules and in some instances, are expected to meet certain reporting standards, such as good corporate governance, sustainability reporting, accounting, and financial reporting, etc. to meet stakeholder and shareholder expectations.

For more information, please contact Evelyn George at evelyn.george@africanceomagazine.com or +1-646-444-8182. You can also contact Lydia Thomas at lydia.thomas@africanceomagazine.com

The 2024 Annual list (in no particular order of importance) of the

Top 100 African CEOs: Best Performing CEOs in Africa in 2024,

	West Africa
	Nigeria
#	Company	Industry	CEO/Managing Director	Gender	Nationality
1	Oando Plc.	Oil and Gas	Wale Tinubu (CON)	M	Nigeria
2	Cutix Plc.	Manufacturing (Electrical Cables, Wires)	Ijeoma Agnes Oduonye (Mrs.)	F	Nigeria
3	Guaranty Trust Holding Company (Gtco)	Banking and Finance	Segun Agbaje	M	Nigeria
4	ABC Transport Plc.	Transport and Logistics	Frank Nneji, OON	M	Nigeria
5	Wema Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Moruf Oseni	M	Nigeria
6	BUA Group	Cement, Sugar, Flour, Real Estate	Abdul Samad Rabiu, CFR, CON	M	Nigeria
7	UBA Group	Banking And Finance	Oliver Alawuba	M	Nigeria
8	Lafarge Africa Plc	Building Materials	Lolu Alade-Akinyemi	M	Nigeria
9	Flour Mills of Nigeria	Food And Agribusiness	Omoboyede Olusanya	M	Nigeria
10	MRS Oil Nigeria Plc.	Oil and Gas	Alhaji Sayyu Dantata	M	Nigeria
11	FBN Holdings	Banking and Finance	Wale Oyedeji	M	Nigeria
12	Zenith Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Dame (Dr.) Adaora Umeoji	F	Nigeria
13	Eterna Plc.	Energy, Oil and Gas	Abiola Lukman Lawal	M	Nigeria
14	Dangote Industries Limited	Conglomerate (Diversified)	Aliko Dangote, GCON	M	Nigeria
15	Unity Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Mrs Tomi Somefun	F	Nigeria
16	Transnational Corporation Plc. (Transcorp)	Conglomerate (Power, Hospitality)	Dr. Owen Omogiafo, OON	F	Nigeria
17	John Holt Plc.	Hospitality	Dr. Christopher Ezeh	M	Nigeria
18	Fidelity Bank Plc.	Financial Services	Nneka Onyeali-Ikpe	F	Nigeria
19	Royal Exchange Plc.	Financial Services	Irene Opara	F	Nigeria
20	Livestock Feeds Plc.	Agriculture (Animal Feed)	Adegboyega Adedeji	M	Nigeria
21	SAHCO Plc.	Services	Adenike Aboderin (Mrs.)	F	Nigeria
22	Guinea Insurance Plc.	Financial Services	Ademola Abidogun	M	Nigeria
23	Vitafoam Nigeria Plc.	Consumer Goods (Foam Manufacturing)	Taiwo Ayodele Adeniyi	M	Nigeria
24	Honeywell Group	Conglomerate	Obafemi Otudeko	M	Nigeria
	Ghana
25	Ecobank Ghana	Banking and Finance	Abena Osei-Poku (Mrs.)	F	Ghanaian
26	Enterprise Group	Conglomerate	Daniel Larbi-Tieku	M	Ghanaian
27	Standard Chartered Bank Ghana, Plc.	Banking and Finance	Mansa Nettey	F	Ghanaian
28	Agricultural Development Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Alhassan Yakubu-Tali	M	Ghanaian
29	Cocoa Processing Company Plc.	Agriculture (Manufacturing)	Hon. Kojo Ofori-Safo	M	Ghanaian
30	GCB Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Kofi Adomakoh	M	Ghanaian
31	Republic Bank (Ghana) Plc.	Banking and Finance	Benjamin Dzoboku	M	Ghanaian
32	CalBank Plc	Banking and Finance	Carl Selasi Asem	M	Ghanaian
33	GOIL Plc.	Oil and Gas	Hon. Kwame Osei-Prempeh	M	Ghanaian
34	SIC Insurance Company Limited	Financial Services	Hollistar Duah-Yentumi	F	Ghanaian
	Senegal
35	Sonatel Group	Telecommunication	Sékou Dramé	M	Senegalese
36	Bank of Africa (Senegal)	Banking and Finance	Sadio Cissé	M	Senegalese
37	Societe General Senegal	Banking and Finance	Harold Coffi	M	Ivorian
38	Total Energies Senegal	Oil and Gas	Badara Mbacké	M	Senegalese
	Togo
39	Ecobank Transnational Incorporated	Banking and Financial Services	Jeremy Awori	M	Kenyan
40	Oragroup SA	Banking and Financial Services	Ferdinand Ngon Kemoum	M	Cameroonian
	Ivory Coast
41	Bank of Africa CI	Banking and Finance	Redouane TOUBI	M	Moroccan
	Burkina Faso
42	Coris Bank Group	Banking and Finance	Idrissa Nassa	M	Burkina Faso
	North Africa
	Egypt
43	Commercial International Bank (CIB)	Banking and Finance	Hussein Majid Abaza	M	Egyptian
44	Orascom Construction	Engineering and Construction	Osama Bishai	M	Egyptian
45	Telecom Egypt	Telecommunication	Mohamed Nasir Eldin	M	Egyptian
46	Emaar Misr	Real Estate Development	Mostafa Mounir El Kady	M	Egyptian
47	El Sewedy Electric	Electrical Equipment and Energy	Ahmed Ahmed Sadek El Sewedy	M	Egyptian
48	Eastern Company, SAE	Manufacturing, Trading and Tobacco	Hany Aman Hussain Attia	M	Egyptian
49	Palm Hills Development	Real Estate Development	Yasseen Mansour	M	Egyptian
50	Juhayna Food Industries	Food and Beverages	Seif Thabet	M	Egyptian
51	Organge SAE	Telecommunication	Yasser Shaker	M	Egyptian
	Morocco
52	Attijariwafa Bank	Banking and Finance	Mohamed El Kettani	M	Moroccan
53	Bank of Africa (BMCE)	Banking and Finance	Othman Benjelloun	M	Moroccan
54	OCP Group	Mining and Chemicals	Mostafa Terrab	M	Moroccan
55	Maroc Telecom	Telecommunications	Abdeslam Ahizoune	M	Moroccan
56	Managem Group	Mining	Imad Touni	M	Moroccan
	Tunisia
57	Banque International Arabe De Tunisie	Banking and Finance	Elyes JEBIR	M	Tunisian
58	Societe Tunisiene De L’air (Tunisair)	Aviation	Khaled Chelly	M	Tunisian
59	Poulina Group Holding	Food Processing, Construction	Mahjoub Langar	M	Tunisian
60	Tunisian Company of Electricity and Gas	Energy (Electricity and Gas)	Mohamed Ammar	M	Tunisian
61	Carthage Cement	Cement and Building Materials	Brahim Sanaa	M	Tunisian
	East Africa
	Kenya
62	Safaricom Plc.	Telecommunication	Peter Ndegwa	M	Kenyan
63	Equity Group Holdings	Banking and Finance	Dr. James Mwangi	M	Kenyan
64	Kenya Commercial Bank Group	Banking and Finance	Paul Russo	M	Kenyan
65	Kenya Airways Plc.	Aviation	Allan Kilavuka	M	Kenyan
66	Centum Investment Company	Investment and Asset Management	Dr. James Mworia Mwirigi	M	Kenyan
67	East African Breweries Limited	Beverages and Manufacturing	Jane Karuku	F	Kenyan
68	Co-Operative Bank of Kenya	Banking and Finance	Gideon Muriuki	M	Kenyan
69	Kenya Electricity Generating Company Plc.	Energy and Power	Eng. Peter Njenga	M	Kenyan
70	Britam Holdings Plc.	Financial Services	Tom Gitogo	M	Kenyan
71	Kenya Power & Lighting Co Ltd.	Energy and Power	Dr. (Eng.) Joseph Siror	M	Kenyan
	Tanzania
72	NMB Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Ruth Zaipuna	F	Tanzanian
73	CRDB Bank Plc.	Banking and Finance	Abdulmajid Mussa Nsekela	M	Tanzanian
74	Tanzania Breweries Limited	Beverages and Manufacturing	Michelle Kiplin	F	South African
75	TOL Gases Limited	Energy, Oil and Gas	Daniel M. Warungu	M	Tanzanian
	Uganda
76	Uganda Clays Limited	Manufacturing	Reuben Tumwebaze	M	Uganda
77	Jubilee Holdings Limited	Financial Services	Dr. Julius Kipngetich	M	Uganda
78	DFCU Limited	Banking and Finance	Charles-M.-Mudiwa	M	Uganda
	Rwanda
79	Bank of Kigali Plc.	Banking and Finance	Dr. Diane Karusisi	F	Rwanda
	Southern Africa
	South Africa
80	Anglo American	Mining	Craig Miller	M	South African
81	Standard Bank Group	Banking and Finance	Simpiwe "Sim" Tshabalala	M	South African
82	Firstrand Limited	Banking and Finance	Mary Vilakazi	F	South African
83	Vodacom Group	Telecommunications	Mohamed Shameel Aziz Joosub	M	South African
84	Shoprite Holdings	Retail (Supermarkets)	Pieter Engelbrecht	M	South African
85	Nedbank Group	Banking and Finance	Jason Patrick Quinn	M	South African
86	Sasol Limited	Energy and Chemicals	Simon Baloyi	M	South African
87	Bidvest Group	Service, Freight, Finance	Mpumi Madisa	F	South African
88	Tiger Brands	Food and Beverages	Tjaart Kruger	M	South African
89	Discovery Limited	Insurance and Finance	Adrian Gore	M	South African
	Botswana
90	Debswana Diamond Company	Mining (Diamonds)	Andrew Maatla Motsomi	M	Botswana
91	First National Bank of Botswana	Banking and Finance	Steven Lefentse Bogatsu	M	Botswana
92	Letshego Holdings Limited	Financial Services	Aobakwe "Aupa" Monyatsi	M	Botswana
	Namibia
93	Capricorn Group Limited	Investment and Asset Management	David Nuyoma	M	Namibian
94	Alpha Namibia Industries Renewable Energy Power Limited (ANIREP)	Energy Services	Iyaloo Ya Nangolo	M	Namibian
	Mauritius
95	MCB Group	Banking and Finance	Jean Michel Ng Tseung	M	Mauritius
	Central Africa
	Angola
96	Sonangol	Oil and Gas (State-Owned)	Sabastiao Gaspar Martins	M	Angolian
97	Banco Angolano Investmentos (BAI)	Banking and Finance	Luis Filipe Rodrigues Lelis	M	Angolian
98	Endiama (National Diamond Company)	Mining (Diamonds)	José Manuel Ganga Júnior	M	Angolian
99	Banco De Poupance E Credito (BPC)	Banking and Finance	Antonio Andre Lopes	M	Angolian
100	Banco de Fomento Angola	Financial Services	Luís Roberto F. Gonçalves	M	Angolian