Chain Reactions Africa, the Lagos-headquartered independent communications consultancy, emerged winner of the Large Consultancy category in the inaugural Africa Consultancy Performance Index at PRAXIS Africa in Nairobi, Kenya, on August 26, 2026, earning recognition for its business performance, creative impact, innovation, talent and industry leadership.
The recognition, presented during Africa PR Week, places the Nigerian consultancy among the leading communications firms assessed in the first Africa edition of the index created by Earned First, a global PR intelligence and media platform serving Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa.
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Chain Reactions Africa’s category victory followed an evaluation across five areas: Business Performance, Creative Impact & Client Outcomes, Innovation & Thought Leadership, Talent & Culture, and Industry Leadership.
Earned First weighted Business Performance and Creative Impact & Client Outcomes at 25 per cent each, Innovation & Thought Leadership and Talent & Culture at 20 per cent each, and Industry Leadership at 10 per cent.
The consultancy recorded particularly strong results in Business Performance and Creative Impact & Client Outcomes, according to the company’s announcement.
Earned First’s wider assessment identified Retroviral as the overall Africa Index Champion, with Chain Reactions Africa among the consultancies receiving recognition in the inaugural benchmark.
The distinction comes as African communications firms face growing pressure to demonstrate measurable business value alongside creative work.
Rather than focusing solely on awards or campaign visibility, the index was designed to examine the broader health and performance of PR consultancies, including commercial growth, client outcomes, innovation, workplace culture and contribution to the industry.
Arun Sudhaman, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Earned First, said the index was intended to provide a more comprehensive way of assessing consultancy performance across the continent.
The approach reflects a changing communications environment in which clients increasingly expect agencies to connect reputation and communications work with tangible organisational outcomes.
For Chain Reactions Africa, the recognition adds to a growing record of international and continental honours.
The consultancy has previously received recognition at the SABRE Awards, African SABRE Awards, World Public Relations Awards and Commonwealth Environment & CSR Awards.
The company also recorded a second-place overall finish at the SABRE Awards, according to its latest announcement.
Israel Opayemi, Founder and Managing Director/Chief Strategist of Chain Reactions Africa, described the latest recognition as a meaningful acknowledgement of the consultancy’s development and the people behind it.
“This means a lot to us at Chain Reactions Africa,” Opayemi said. “It represents more than a ranking; it is an acknowledgement of the journey we have taken, the people who have built this consultancy and the ambition we continue to have for African communications.”
Opayemi said the recognition was particularly significant because it demonstrated that an African independent consultancy could compete with larger international firms while maintaining a strong understanding of the continent.
“To be recognised alongside and ahead of some of the biggest names on the continent is particularly meaningful,” he said. “It tells us that an African independent consultancy can build world-class capability, compete with global heavyweights and remain deeply rooted in the realities and possibilities of our continent.”
Founded in 2010, Chain Reactions Africa has built its business around strategic advisory, creativity, technology, research and cultural intelligence.
The consultancy reported 18.5 per cent revenue growth in 2025, while its workforce expanded by 17 per cent from 44 to 53 employees. The company also recorded a 60 per cent new-business win rate during the year.
Its portfolio includes public engagement work for the Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority around Nigeria’s first intra-city electric rail line.
The consultancy also worked on NIVEA’s SABI hygiene-education programme, which the company says contributed to a 40 per cent increase in sales, as well as Indomie Heroes, a campaign designed to strengthen the brand’s association with children and youth development.
Technology and audience intelligence have also become important parts of the firm’s proposition.
Chain Reactions Africa’s innovation portfolio includes Ara by Prophet, an artificial intelligence and cultural-intelligence platform, and ÀRÁMÀNDÀ, an audience-intelligence and research platform.
The consultancy has also placed emphasis on its internal culture. Women lead every business function, while the company reports an 80 per cent staff satisfaction rate.
Those figures provide context for the index’s broader emphasis on talent and culture alongside financial and creative performance.
The Africa Consultancy Performance Index itself is part of Earned First’s wider effort to benchmark PR consultancy performance using measurable criteria rather than relying exclusively on traditional industry awards.
Earned First said the research seeks to identify firms combining sustained commercial performance with stronger advisory, measurement and AI capabilities.
The African edition attracted interest from consultancies across different markets and sizes.
Chain Reactions Africa was shortlisted in the Large Consultancy category alongside Clockwork and Irvine Partners before emerging as the category winner.
The recognition at PRAXIS Africa also came at a significant moment for the continent’s communications industry, with discussions increasingly focused on whether global communications models adequately reflect African markets, audiences and cultural realities.
For Chain Reactions Africa, the award therefore carries significance beyond a single campaign or client win.
It offers external validation of a business model that combines commercial growth with creative work, technology, research and a distinctly African understanding of audiences.
As African communications consultancies compete for increasingly sophisticated regional and international mandates, the result also highlights the growing capacity of independent firms to compete on a wider stage.
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Chain Reactions Africa’s Large Consultancy victory is ultimately a reflection of that broader shift, while its performance in Earned First’s inaugural benchmark gives the Lagos consultancy another notable milestone in its 16-year journey.
Quadri Olaitan is a journalist and contributor to Freelanews.com, covering news, public affairs, and human-interest stories.
