According to the African Business Magazine’s annual survey,

Safaricom is the leading communications company in Kenya in terms of coverage, data- voice and SMS network. In 2020 alone, Safaricom went from position 14 to 10 in Africa, recording a net profit 19.5% to Kshs 74.7 billion.

Kenya’s Safaricom, 10th in Africa, with a market capitalization of $10.0bn and Nigeria’s Paga were among mobile money firms that took a hit to earnings when they removed fees on low-value transfers to move customers away from using cash. That is only accelerating an underlying trend towards mobile money and analysts expect that activities will pick up strongly after the crisis,” said Tom Minney on the fortunes of Africa’s Top 250 Companies.

Tanzania Breweries came in at position 75 in Africa, with Equity Holdings (Net income of $54 Million) and ranked 2nd in East Africa, while African Great Lakes region based Equity Group Holdings stands at the third position with market capitalization of USD 1 billion 168 million and its net income rises to $211million.

According to the Multimedia business platform "Khusoko", East Africa Breweries in beverages industries (Kenyan-based holding company that manufactures branded beer, spirits, and non-alcoholic beverages) is ranked  at 4th in East Africa with a net income of $84 Million and a market capitalization of $1,082 billion.

KCB Group (Kenya Commercial Bank) is at the 5th position with a market cap of $999 Million.

The next 5 places are occupied by Vodacom Tanzania, at 6 in East Africa and 98 in Africa with a Market cap of $827Million. Tanzania Cigarette at 7 with a market cap of $738 Million, the Co-operative Bank of Kenya at 8 with a market cap of $690 Million and net income of $135 Million while the Standard Chartered Bank at 9 with a market cap of $592 Million and NMB Bank at 10 with a market cap of $508 Million.

Rwanda has no entry in the top twenty, while Uganda has two, mainly British American Tobacco at 12 with a market capitalization of $387 Million and $4 Million of net income whereas Stanbic Bank Uganda sits at 14 with a market cap of $323 Million. Kenya lost three entries to list 11 companies and their combined market capitalization was dropped from $21bn to $16bn.

Zooming out, the finance industry dominates other business sectors in the East African region, especially in Kenya.