Lapaire Glasses and AMI - African Management Initiative feature in "Africa's Fastest Growing Companies 2024" ranking

Lapaire Glasses, a pan-African company specializing in visual health, and African Management Initiative (AMI), a pioneer in professional training for African entrepreneurs and managers, feature in the Financial Times' 2024 ranking of Africa's fastest-growing companies, in 14th and 67th place respectively. 

Lapaire and AMI are two companies from the IPAE 2 portfolio.

 Browse the ranking

About the ranking:

Méthodology

Africa's Fastest Growing Companies 2024 lists 125 companies, ranked according to the highest compound annual revenue growth (CAGR) between 2019 and 2022.

Inclusion criteria 

To be included in the list of the Africa’s fastest growing companies, a company had to meet the following criteria:

• Revenue of at least US$100,000 generated in 2019;
• Revenue of at least US$1.5mn generated in 2022;
• An independent company (not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind);
• Headquartered in an African country;
• Revenue growth between 2019 and 2022 that was primarily organic (ie “internally” stimulated).

About portfolio companies : :

Lapaire Glasses - Panafrican

Co-managed by Jérôme Lapaire and Louis Gascoin, Lapaire is a pan-African company specializing in visual health, founded in 2018. It targets a population previously excluded from the quality optical care market by offering services and products at fair and transparent prices through a local network and personalized customer service.  

Lapaire operates more than 50 of its own optical outlets across Africa, and employs over 300 people. With the aim of becoming the benchmark eyewear brand in Africa, Lapaire plans to open more optical branches in major cities, as well as in peri-urban areas. The company's ambition is to open 250 additional stores in 3 years, including expansion into 5 new African countries. 

AMI - Kenya

Created in 2014 by Jonathan Cook and Rebecca Harrison, African Management Institute (AMI) offers a pioneering range of professional training courses for African entrepreneurs and managers.

AMI has developed 45 practical modules - including over 2,000 tools - with leading African business schools and global adult education experts. AMI's training programs are based on a combined offering of online material and workshops with experts in their field. Through these programs, AMI aims to reach 20,000 people based in 11 different African countries.

AMI is celebrating 10 years of activity this year, and for the occasion has published a report highlighting their impact in terms of data, but above all the lessons and stories learned from working side by side with ambitious businesses and entrepreneurs across the continent.

 Download impact report

Other major news from the IPAE 2 portfolio

AGROSERV Industrie,  a company specialized in corn processing, organized a workshop entitled "Successful contract farming for aflatoxin-free local corn production" on June 6 and 7, 2024 in Bobo-Dioulasso. The workshop, which brought together the company's various partners in Burkina Faso, officially launched the 2024-2025 agricultural campaign.

AgroServ and its partners plan to achieve a production of 40,000 tonnes of corn this season.