Top 100 firms’ survey receives Sh6m boost

From left, KPMG's Mr Robert Onyango, Ms Nikki Summers of Sage Pastel Ltd and Ms AnnGitao-Kinyua of Nation Media Group during the Top 100 Survey : 2013-1sponsorship signing ceremony. Photo/FILE

What you need to know:

  • The funds mark Sage’s renewal of its four-year sponsorship with NMG and audit firm KPMG
  • The firm has offered Sh24 million in total to NMG in sponsorship since 2010

Nation Media Group’s Top 100 mid-sized companies survey has received a major boost after global firm Sage Pastel offered Sh6 million to fund it.

The funds mark Sage’s renewal of its four-year sponsorship with NMG and audit firm KPMG in identifying the 100 fastest growing medium-sized firms across the country.

The business software firm focuses on small and medium business.

“We aim to help stimulate SMEs growth,” said Nikki Summers, Sage regional manager East Africa yesterday during the launch at Nation Centre, Nairobi.

The firm has offered Sh24 million in total to NMG in sponsorship since 2010. It also invests between Sh800,000 and Sh1.3 million every year toward developing software for Top 100 companies competition.

NMG marketing director Ann Gitao-Kinyua said the money would be used in convening monthly forums involving the Top 100 businesspeople and trainers.

This year’s awards will be the sixth and will be held next month at the Carnivore Restaurant in Nairobi.

The survey attracted 270 applications after extensive campaigns in the counties. “We want to make it an inclusive survey,” said senior manager mid-markets at KPMG, Mr Robert Onyango. The Top 100 survey was established in 2008 in Kenya, Uganda in 2009 and Tanzania in 2010 by KPMG East Africa and Nation Media Group’s publication Business Daily.

It identifies Kenya’s fastest growing small medium-sized enterprises and is open to firms with a turnover of between Sh70million and Sh1 billion. A firm not listed at the Nairobi Securities Exchange has to present a three-year audited financial record. The stock exchange, which has contributed Sh2.5 million in a deal with NMG spanning three years, is set to announce its sponsorship next week.