OmniRetail emerges first in Financial Times’ Ranking of Africa’s fastest-growing companies

Omniretail, a B2B enablement platform focusing on digital infrastructure in Sub-Saharan Africa, is proud to announce it has secured the top position in the Financial Times (FT) ranking of Africa’s Fastest-Growing Companies for 2024. The ranking, now in its third year, continues to highlight the dynamism and growth of companies in sectors including fintech, renewable energy, healthcare, e-commerce, and agriculture. 

The FT presents Africa’s Fastest Growing Companies list comprising innovative, modern, companies growing at scale, that are the driving force of the international economy in the 21st century. The Financial Times partners with Statista, to produce similar rankings for companies in Europe, Asia, and America. The inclusion of OmniRetail as part of this prestigious list is a testament to its success and exceptional performance. Similar to the ranking for other markets, the Africa list places companies by their compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue between 2019 and 2022. OmniRetail has grown by 772.39% over these 3 years, making it Africa’s fastest-growing company in 2024.

Launched in 2019, OmniBiz is the flagship product of OmniRetail, a distribution platform that digitises the supply chain from distributors to retailers by embracing a retailer-first, asset-light approach. OmniBiz enables retailers to place orders directly from manufacturers. These orders are fulfilled by partner distributors, who specialise in warehousing, while transportation responsibilities are delegated to third-party logistics providers, ensuring delivery to retailers within 24 hours. OmniRetail is building a collaborative platform that includes other innovative tools like OmniPay and Mplify, which equips retailers with essential resources and tools to procure products, build and access credit, and optimise their business for higher profitability and scale. With over 140,000 small retailers and over 200 brands onboarded, OmniRetail aims to redefine the retail industry in Africa. 

Deepankar Rustagi, CEO of OmniRetail, said, “We’re proud to enter the FT Africa’s fastest-growing list for the first time and even more so to be at the top of the list. This is a tribute to the hard work and perseverance of everyone at OmniRetail. Africa deserves a robust digital infrastructure layered on top of the existing informal retail sector, and we’re proud of the progress we’ve made so far. We are equally proud of our work towards empowering and supporting more retailers previously excluded by the financial ecosystem and those experiencing cash flow issues to enhance their supply chain processes. 

Through OmniRetail, we help retailers grow through our integrated digital infrastructure providing access to essential goods and capital. We will continue to improve infrastructure for efficient product distribution, envisioning more product variety and efficient distribution to even more remote areas. As a company, we are on a journey to completely eliminate the inefficiencies of traditional trade by digitising the key stakeholders across the value chain”.  

OmniRetail’s business model revolves around the OmniBiz platform, which digitises the supply chain, while OmniPay processes over $50 million in transactions. 

This emphasises high-margin product categories and offers structured rebates and incentives.  To optimise delivery van loads, OmniRetail uses an algorithm and operates with a robust model that includes decentralised warehousing. At least 78% of OmniRetail’s retailers and distributors are women, reflecting robust financial inclusion by providing access to banking services, working capital, and genuine digitisation. The company works with more than 4800 distributor partners and 1100 committed vehicles and compensates partners based on delivered value. OmniRetail recently achieved profitability, boasting gross margins of 9% and net contribution margins of 5% as of January 2024, with a registered retailer base of 144,000.