Transport, construction, ICT shine at Top 100 SMEs survey

Small and mid-sized firms in the transport, construction and ICT industries dominated the top ranking of the annual Business Daily and KPMG Top 100 SMEs survey.

The three sectors took two slots each among the top 10 firms in the survey whose results were announced on Thursday evening, dominating companies from agriculture, manufacturing and real estate.

Nairobi-based creative firm Trueblaq, founded in 2001 by the late events guru Kevin Ombajo, was crowned the overall winner.

It was followed by Quipbank Trust Limited while transport firm Rural Distributors Enterprises came third.

Orange Pharma Limited, Professional Digital Systems, ASA Limited, Kurrent Technologies, Dakawou Transport Limited, Spic N Span Cleaning Services and Questworks Limited closed the top ten positions.

KPMG East Africa chief executive Benson Ndung’u said the survey has helped promote the SMEs, making them attractive to employees and funders as well as easing the sale of their products in a competitive market place.

“As business leaders we need to keep reinventing ourselves. Competition in the business landscape is severe and only the agile will survive and remain high up the rankings,” said Mr Ndung'u when announcing the top firms in 12th edition of the survey

The dominance of small businesses in the transport, construction and ICT industries came at the expense of their counterparts in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors.

Agriculture, the single- biggest contributor to the country annual economic at 34.5 percent of the GDP output and the manufacturing industry which is third were not represented in the top 10 at this year’s edition.

Transport accounts for eight percent of the GDP followed by manufacturing (7.7 percent) and real estate (seven percent).

This year’s edition saw Riley Falcon Security and Nyeri-based dairy company Mukurweini Wakulima Dairies join the Club 101-the premier club among the top 100 small businesses. Club 101 is the elite category for companies that outgrow the Sh50 million-Sh1 billion annual turnover threshold.

In addition to having a maximum annual turnover of Sh1 billion, the companies which are not listed on the Nairobi Stock Exchange are required to submit three years of audited financial reports.

The Top 100 Survey-a joint initiative of Nation Media Group #ticker:NMG and audit firm KPMG East Africa recognises the best 100 small businesses in the country.

The small businesses are further required to submit audited financial accounts for the past three years underlining the need for improved accountability and book-keeping.