The penetration of broadband and the internet in Africa, has given rise to several, technologically, enabled businesses.
What technology has been able to achieve is that, it has provided a platform, through which businesses, can leverage and scale, at an exponential rate.
Top Unicorn companies, like Facebook, Google, Uber, Airbnb, SnapChat, etc., have been able to maximize the usage, of technology to become global brands.
In Africa, irrespective of the underlying fact that, the continent still battles, with low broadband and internet penetration, some companies have been able, to rise and became Unicorns – Companies like, Jumia Group, Cell C, Promasidor Holdings, etc.
These companies, however, did not just get to where they are today. They passed through processes and stages and one these stages, is the Gazelle stage.
The idea of gazelle companies was propagated, by an economist and author, David Birch, in his book, ‘Job Creation in America: How Our Smallest Companies Put the Most People to Work’.
Just, as the name connotes, gazelle start-ups, are fasting rising, young companies that maintains consistency and aggressively expands, in both sales and employment, with a total of $1 million, or, more, in the first of those four years.
A start-up can be referred to, as a gazelle, if it is able to, successfully, maintain a high rate of expansion, for a period of, not less than four years, however, there is no written growth rate, for a gazelle company, but 20% annual growth, has been widely agreed on.
Gazelle companies are firms that can, also, be publicly traded and their shares, can be bought and sold, in the stock market.
Africa has witnessed an exponential rise in gazelle start-ups and this has, steadily, impacted on the GDP of countries in Africa.
In West Africa, forecast shows that the real GDP growth in 2019, for Ghana will be 8.8%, Côte d’Ivoire, 7.5%, Senegal, 6.9%, Benin, 6.5%, Burkina Faso, 6% and Niger, 6.5%.
Thousands of jobs, have been created and more, simple and efficient ways of doing things, have emerged.
Featured Image: bcm.mk
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