FG lists Stallion Group among Nigeria’s top businesses

Multinational conglomerate, Stallion Group, was on Monday honoured by President Goodluck Jonathan as one of the country’s top companies contributing immensely to Nigeria’s economic development.

The Top 100 Business listing, the first in the history of the country, is the brainchild of President Jonathan designed to recognise corporate bodies making significant contribution to the nation’s socio-economic development. Stallion ranked within the Top 15 companies and was one of the only two high ranked conglomerates along with the Dangote Group.

Also listed on the Top 100 list are multinational oil giants including Exxon Mobil, Shell, Chevron, TotalEni Agip/Saipem and CNOOC Oil. Others are MTN, Zenith Bank and First Bank.

The award presentation ceremony, which was held in Abuja, was aimed at encouraging highly performing companies to further contribute to the economy in more significant ways.

The award, the first in Nigeria, took into account the amount of taxes paid, employment generated, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and the companies’ turnover.

The President, in his address at the dinner for recipients in Abuja, said, “the companies are the frontiers of our economy and will help the country achieve the Top 10 economy in the world status.”

Also speaking, the Minister for Industry, Trade and Investment, Dr. Olusegun Aganga, said: “The Top 100 companies account for 20 per cent of Nigeria’s $510 billion Gross Domestic Product (GDP).” Aganga said that the country adopted similar criteria as Fortune 500 in the US, in selecting the top businesses, stressing that this makes it very objective and verifiable.

“We want to make it absolutely clear that it has integrity,” he stated. He expressed pride at the achievement of the selected companies, as it is made up of investors that create jobs, wealth, facilitate economic growth and generate income for the government.

Promoted by multi-billionaire, Sunil Vaswani, Stallion is a multi-business conglomerate with a 45-year history in Nigeria and presence in 18 countries. It is engaged in commodities, industries, automobile assembly, agriculture, mining, steel, plastics, petrochemicals, packaging, IT/automation, real estate, shipping and banking.

Stallion’s latest ranking and recognition epitomises its strong position as a well-entrenched conglomerate in the privileged company of multinational oil majors and leading banking and telecom companies.

The Sun report