Bob Group’s plan to build a billion-dollar company in South Africa
Bob Group managing director Andy Higgins says he believes the company can achieve a billion-dollar valuation from within South Africa.
This comes after Higgins revealed their ambition to achieve “unicorn” status earlier this month.
“I genuinely believe it is possible for us to build a significant business within South Africa only,” Higgins told MyBroadband during a recent interview.
“We have actually forayed into other African markets, and we’ve pulled back as well. It comes with its own challenges.”
Higgins explained that to justify a valuation of a billion dollars in purely financial terms, a company needs to create enough sustainable value to generate a profit of at least $100 million per year — and that is applying a generous earnings multiple of 10.
“In other words, a monthly profit of $8.3 million or about R160 million at current exchange rates,” he said.
Bob Group aims to achieve this goal by growing all aspects of its business.
“Bob Group is actually five businesses in one, each at different stages of their development,” Higgins said.
The company was formed through the merger of the online marketplace Bidorbuy and logistics company uAfrica in 2022.
In 2023, Bidorbuy was rebranded to Bob Shop, and uAfrica to Bob Go.
Although Bob Shop is not yet profitable, Higgins said it saw 25% growth between November 2022 and 2023.
He added that Bob Shop will be profitable if it sees the same growth next year.
Bob Group’s portfolio also includes online payments solutions through Bob Pay, and a smart locker operation in the start-up phase called Bob Box.
Ship Logic is Bob Group’s crown jewel — a software-as-a-service platform providing all the backend tech needed to run a courier company.
Crucially, Higgins said Bob Group as a whole is profitable.
“This means, as it stands, there is an unlimited financial runway to achieve the goal of unicorn status.”
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