As the Commercial Hub of Africa, Lagos State, Turns 50, ICONIC Releases its Business Ranking Report on the 50 Leading Businesses Upholding Nigeria's Economy

LAGOS, Nigeria, July 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ --

It was happy times in 2013 when Nigeria's GDP was rebased, resulting in a 90% leap from about $270 billion to $510 billion, thus making the country the largest in Africa and 26^th largest in the world. The rebasing exercise was carried out to account for new economic sectors like telecommunication, retail, and creatives, that were previously not reflected or underreported.

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Yet, even with the rebasing, Nigeria's economy still remains hugely dependent on the oil and gas sector. Subsequently, the persistent oil price surge, and perhaps, the change in government that introduced its own dynamics, inevitably made 2015 a very tough and challenging economic year for Nigeria, recording its lowest GDP growth in the last 15 years. The fourth quarter of 2015 recorded the first low level decline in real year on year growth in GDP in the rebased period, from 2.84% in previous quarter to 2.11%. By the first quarter of 2016, Nigeria experienced its first negative GDP growth of 0.36 percent, thus teetering on the verge of economic recession.

Suffice to say that businesses in the newly accounted sectors of telecoms, retail and creatives, and the consistency and resilience of businesses in the manufacture and agriculture sectors, all of which have operational and/or marketing presence in Lagos State, are the pillars supporting the country's economy in this present downtime. These businesses have successfully managed to achieve profits and growth despite the harsh economic environment they are operating in.

Thus, an insight into these businesses, and their performance in the 2015 fiscal year, has been captured in ICONIC's business ranking report. Published annually, ICONIC is an independent business ranking report by Nigeria for Nigeria, that recognises and celebrates the successes of businesses in Nigeria, ranking them based on their contributions to Nigeria's socio-economic development.

Leading the pack is the formidable Dangote Group that is undoubtedly an economic pillar with its diversified interests in manufacture, agriculture and the oil and gas sectors. Jumia, a giant mogul in the newly established e-commerce sector, follows suit with its recognition as Nigeria's first in the emerging online business. The remarkable performance of Etisalat, since its entry in the Nigeria scene, was not overlooked as it also received top recognition for its undeniable potential as a future economic pillar in Nigeria's economy. And, despite the crippling oil and gas sector, and its direct influence in the current record high unemployment rate in Nigeria, GE, which is also dominant in the power sector, was recognized as Nigeria's top employer.

Based on 10,000+ online survey carried out by Jobberman, and face-to-face questionnaire conducted by iConcierge Nigeria, other companies that also made the ranking lists include Zenith Bank, FirstBank, ExxonMobil, Nigeria Breweries, Unilever and Schlumberger. The results also included unknown heroes outside the usual suspects like MegaLectrics, CardinalStone Partners, House of Tara, TerraKulture and Battabox.

For further details on the 50 leading businesses of 2015, refer to the full report which is available for free digital download on http://www.iconicng.com and http://www.iconciergehub.com, including digital platforms of beats99.9fm, Classic97.9fm and Naija90.2fm, and for purchase on Amazon.

ICONIC 2016 was published in association with iConcierge Nigeria, together with Dragon Africa and Jobberman. Its official media partners for 2016 are ChannelsTV, Beats99.9FM, ClassicFM and Naija FM.

SOURCE Iconic Nigeria