No.

No.

No. All those who apply and make it into the Top 50 are free to publicize this fact. The official seal South Africa's Growth Champions 2026, which is available for a license fee, is merely an additional option for those who want to advertise and promote their achievement in a more visually striking manner.

No, this project has two revenue sources: revenues from license fees, as outlined above, and advertisements in a News24 special report where the ranking will be published alongside News24 articles on South African company growth trends and profiles. The special report, to appear as part of News24 online, is an independent piece of journalism written and commissioned by News24 journalists, drawing on the data collected for the ranking.

To be included in the list of South Africa's Growth Champions, a company has to meet the following criteria:

• Revenues of at least USD 100,000 (around R1.65 million) generated in 2021.

• Revenues of at least USD 1,500,000 (around R27.68 million) generated in 2024.

• Be independent (the company is not a subsidiary or branch office of any kind).

• Revenue growth between 2021 and 2024 that was primarily organic (ie “internally” stimulated)

• The companys operational headquarters are located in South Africa.

Yes, as long as it complies with the aforementioned criteria. You can find more information in the note on independence here.

Yes.

Revenue data are verified through the signing off of this form by the managing director/CEO, the finance director/CFO or a member of the executive committee. The form may be forwarded via email or post.

Registration through the online form can be completed until December 31st 2025.

The deadline for us to receive this document is December 31st 2025.

The ranking is determined by the revenue growth between the years 2021 and 2024.

We use the compound annual growth rate. For example, if a company achieved total revenue of US $1.5m in 2021 and total revenue of US $7.5m in 2024, we calculate an average yearly increase of 71%

((revenue 2024)/(revenue 2021))^(1/3)-1=Growth rate

((7.5 Mio.USD)/(1.5 Mio.USD))^(1/3)-1=71%

Please provide the revenue details for the fiscal years which fall predominantly in the calendar years of 2021 and 2024. For example:

• 06/01/2024 to 05/31/2025 → use this for 2024 as 7 months were in 2024

• 10/01/2020 to 09/30/2021 → use this for 2021 as 9 months were in 2021

Special scenario - your fiscal years split the calendar years exactly in half:

• 07/01/2021 to 06/30/2022 and 07/01/2024 to 06/30/2025 or

• 07/01/2020 to 06/30/2021 and 07/01/2023 to 06/30/2024

You may use one of these combinations of fiscal years. Just make sure you don’t mix them.

Net revenue adjusted for returns, excluding value added tax and derived only from business activities (excluding any other operating income) as disclosed in your company report.

As a minimum, we require data on revenue growth. We do not need profit information.

The ranking will be published in April 2026.

The following information will be released about the top 50 companies: the company name, the average revenue growth and the total revenue for the years of 2021 and 2024, the number of employees in 2021 and 2024, the founding date of the company, the URL of the company website, as well as the location of the head office and the pre-tax profit if provided.

The results of our research will be published in News24 on news24.com so that the findings can be read and shared by everybody. Before this, the awarded companies will be informed by post of their inclusion in the list.