Encomium
Leading public relations and reputation management consultancy, BlackHouse Media (BHM) is now the only PR & communications company in the Financial Times’ Africa’s 100 fastest-growing companies list. The annual list released on May 2, 2023, shows the company as the first and only public relations and communications company on the list since it was introduced 12 months ago.
Debuting at number 87, BHM joins the rank of Africa’s biggest companies such as MTN, Napsers, Julius Berger and others in fintech, renewable energy, healthcare, commodities and agriculture industries.
The companies on the list for 2023 were ordered by the highest compound annual growth (CAGR) in revenues between 2018 and 2021. An online application phase, a minimum CAGR of 7.89% and a review process by Statista, a leading online platform specialised in market and consumer data, were some of the criteria for the entries on the list.
Ayeni Adekunle, Founder and CEO of BHM, said, “BHM has enjoyed tremendous support from clients and partners and from the public relations community in Africa, and abroad. And we are committed to building what I hope will become the first truly global communications services company from Africa.”
Ayeni, a former Nigerian journalist who worked for reputable publications such as Thisday and The Punch, founded the company in 2006 with a vision to build Africa’s first global PR firm by leveraging insights into different markets, relationships, industry expertise and technology.
Ayeni says ‘‘BHM plans to deliver what will be the first truly international communications services company from Africa; a truly global player with a commitment to the continent. And each passing day, each recognition, each project, each added country convinces me we are on track.’’
David Pilling, the Africa Editor of the Financial Times commended the tenacity of the 100 companies on the list stating that they have managed “to grow their businesses while much of the world shut down [due to Covid]”. He noted that this was a “time in which Silicon Valley investors, as well as those in Asia and Europe, discovered the potential in the African Start-up scene.”
“BHM is a case study of building a successful agency and professional services organisation in the public relations market. The recognition by The Financial Times of BHM is another important metric of the growing maturity of public relations as a professional management discipline’’, says Stephen Waddington, a BHM director and Managing Partner, Wadds Inc.
BHM employs about 100 people in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, and the UK, with a client roster that includes The Macallan, Heineken/NB PLC, MultiChoice/DSTV, Showmax, MTN Nigeria Communications PLC, Honeywell Group, and Shoprite.
The FT list pointed out that while the company’s staff strength had expanded by only 6.6% between 2018 and 2021, there is a considerable uptick of 48.1% in revenue within that same period, with an absolute growth rate of nearly 50%.
The agency’s work is driven by data and research. It published a report the first week of May that focused on the impact of the cost-of-living crisis on the African diaspora living in the UK. BHM will publish another report later in the year that will focus on the PR and communications industry within the continent.
Since its inception in 2006, the company’s investments in its own communities have been a critical value driver. It created and advocated for an annual World PR Day (WPRD) on July 16, 2021, to promote the value of public relations to management. Last year, WPRD was commemorated by 30 public relations associations and 10,000 practitioners in 60 countries.
