The African Management Institute (AMI) (www.AfricanManagers.org) has released its 2023 annual impact report, titled 10 Years as An African Champion for Africa’s Business Champions (https://apo-opa.co/4bWxnN4), which highlights how Africa’s leading business and management learning company impacted 1.5 million livelihoods in the last decade through its support of 37,000 African businesses. 

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The report underscores the impact of AMI’s practical learning programmes on business growth and job creation at scale across the continent, with 97,000 jobs created and $130 million in incremental small business revenue generated - with an outsized impact for youth and women.

“Africa’s businesses and employees are the continent’s engines of growth and prosperity. Through our decade of providing Africa’s ambitious businesses with practical tools and training, we know that businesses grow faster and people perform better when they engage in practical business learning that can be immediately applied on the job,” said Rebecca Harrison, CEO and co-founder of AMI.

“We’re particularly proud of our work with thousands of talented women business leaders across Africa. Our latest data shows women and youth outpace the average on all key business metrics, including revenue growth, job creation and access to finance.”

AMI was founded in 2013 to address the lack of effective and scalable business and management learning for Africa’s ambitious business owners and teams.

The report outlines lessons and stories from AMI’s high-impact model for business learning and growth support at scale.

“We knew that traditional training couldn’t achieve real change. Our approach had to be obsessively focused on practice - providing business owners and their teams with practical tools to underpin the daily habits and behaviors needed to build strong companies,” emphasized Jonathan Cook, AMI’s co-founder and chairman. “In our first ten years, that’s what we’ve delivered and as Africa’s ambitious businesses continue to grow, we’re looking forward to the next decade of spurring further growth.”

Report Overview:

Since 2013, AMI has:

• Resulted in SMEs generating $130 million in incremental revenue
• Reached 37,000 businesses with its practical training programs.
• Facilitated the creation of 97,000 direct and indirect jobs.
• Enabled an average annual revenue growth of 18% for businesses post-Covid
• Enhanced 1.46 million livelihoods across Africa

Key Findings of the Report - 2023 Results

• Youth and Women-Owned Businesses:
• Women-owned businesses accounted for more than half of those supported. Women and young entrepreneurs outpaced men in nearly every growth metric:

Spotlight on Women in 2023

• 50% of all participants and 51% of entrepreneurship program participants in 2023 were women.
• Women-led businesses created an average of 1.4 jobs each per year, surpassing the overall average of 1; 26% of jobs created were for women
• Women-led businesses had a median annual revenue growth of 20%, exceeding an overall average of 18%.
• Women-led businesses accessed higher finance amounts ($33,667) compared to male-led businesses ($26,833), with co-led businesses accessing even more ($45,737)

Spotlight on Youth in 2023

• 81% of participants were youth (age 34 and below).
• Youth-led businesses achieved an annual revenue growth of 24.62%, significantly higher than the average
• Youth-led businesses also had a higher three-year CAGR at 20.23%.

• High Return on Investment:

• AMI delivers sector-leading impact and cost efficiency;
  • For every $1 invested in an AMI programme, businesses generated $48 in revenue, with an estimated 25% of that directly enhancing employee incomes.
  • In 2023 businesses in AMI programmes saw 18.69% median annual revenue growth
  • The top 50 performing businesses created an average of 15.4 jobs each in 2023 and grew their revenue by an average of 169% in one year.

• MSMEs Access to Finance in 2023:
  • 39.5% of participants accessed finance (an increase from 2022).
  • 77% of those accessing finance obtained loans.
  • Average finance amount was $30,800 (, with a median amount of $4,405).
  • The range of finance raised was $33-$1.2 million.

• Entrepreneur Endorsed:
  • 88% of entrepreneurs reported that they either would not have or may not have achieved their growth without AMI's support.