Namibia’s fastest-growing companies 2023

Grapes packaging and farming company Achill Island Investments Pty Ltd has been named as Namibia’s fastest-growing company of 2023.

This accolade stems from the compmany achieving a compound annual growth rate of 89% between 2018 and 2021, and it was also announced as such by global statistics company Statista as part of its Namibia’s fastest-growing companies report.

This report was published in April and looks at how innovative, modern and fast-growing companies are the driving force of the international economy in the 21st century.

It also looks at how these companies generate jobs and sustain market competitiveness.

Achill produces, packs, markets and exports table grapes, and has planted 345 hectares of table grapes to date.

The company has also invested in a date palm development, one of the first of its kind in Namibia, and currently has 110 hectares planted, to be expanded to 280 hectares of date palms in 2024.

The second fastest-growing company spot was Silverlands Vineyards Pty Ltd, another agricultural company that produces, packs, exports, markets and distributes its grapes and dates.

The business has 330 hectares of table grapes, and has added a date palm division with 39 hectares currently planted to be expanded to 64 hectares this year.

In third place is Bonben Assurance Namibia Ltd, a funeral specialist which provides tailor-made funeral products and unique funeral value added benefits.

Virtua Technologies Pty Ltd took fourth place.

This company provides innovative information technology management services and support for clients around Africa, such as Namibia, Botswana, Zambia and South Africa.

These four companies were named by Statista as the fastest growing in the country, having doubled, tripled and even quadrupled their income over the 2018 to 2021 period.

Achill earned over N$145 million in 2021 from just a N$21 million in 2018, while Silverlands earned N$197 million in 2021, compared to N$47 million in 2018.

Virtua and Bonben Assurance Namibia Ltd earned below N$100 million, but had reasonable growth in their compound annual growth rate over the said period, at 31% and 33%, respectively.

Commenting on the results and as publishing partner, the editor of The Namibian, Tangeni Amupadhi, says Namibian businesses experienced a loss of business and revenue over the past two years as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, many of them have weathered the economic storm through innovation and resilience.

“We look forward to the survey results, and of course to celebrate those companies that have performed well during the period under review,” he says.

This would be the first time that The Namibian, in partnership with Statista, will seek to identify the Namibian companies with the strongest growth between 2018 and 2021.

The ranking considered companies which earned revenue of at least N$2 million generated in 2018, and revenue of at least N$27 million generated in 2021.

The companies also needed to be independent and headquartered in Namibia.
Email: lazarus@namibian.com.na
Twitter: @Lasarus_A