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The African Enterprise Health Index measures how Nigerian mid-market enterprises are actually run, across the five layers of the ESRE OS: business design, operating model, technology, data and governance. The inaugural edition publishes in Q4 2026.
Free. You see your ESRE OS Performance Score straight away. Your company is never named.
What the data already showsWorld Bank, Nigeria 2025
The ESRE OS model
Every enterprise in the index is scored on the same five OS layers. They depend on each other: a weakness in a lower layer shows up in every layer built on top of it. Explore the layers, then trace what happens when one is weak.
Tap a layer to see what it covers.
Illustration of the ESRE OS model: slab thickness shows each layer's weight in the score. It shows how the method reasons, not results from the index.
Read all five layers as textL2 Operating Model selected.
L2 · Operating Model
Weight 1.4× (highest)What it covers
How work actually happens: processes, roles, decision rights and the handovers between teams.
When it is weak
Core processes live in people's heads. Work stops when key people are away, and the founder or CEO still routes day-to-day decisions.
Why L2 carries the most weight
L2 is the layer the others run on. Technology automates it, data records it and governance controls it, so a weakness here shows up in all three. That is why it carries a weight of 1.4, the highest of the five. In Crelligent's diagnostic work it is also the layer that most often holds enterprises back. That is a hypothesis: the inaugural edition will test it.
This is how the ESRE OS model reasons. It is not a result from the index.
How the 100 points are made up
OS Performance Score = (L1×1.0 + L2×1.4 + L3×1.0 + L4×1.0 + L5×0.6) ÷ 5 × 10Each layer is scored from 0 to 10. An enterprise scoring 10 on every layer scores 100.
How the index works
Each enterprise gets something useful straight away. The index only ever publishes what is true of a group.
01 · You
A senior leader answers questions about how the enterprise runs, across the five OS layers. It takes about 10 minutes and is free.
02 · Private
You see your ESRE OS Performance Score and your five layer scores straight away. Only you and Crelligent see them.
03 · Anonymised
Names and identifying details are removed. Results are only combined in groups of at least 10 enterprises; smaller groups are merged into a broader one so no company can be picked out.
04 · Published
Each quarter, Crelligent publishes the aggregate results with the sample size, method and limitations stated. The inaugural edition covers Q4 2026.
Your individual answers and score are never published or shared with other participants. See the methodology for the full anonymisation rules.
Coverage
Every response so far comes from Nigerian mid-market enterprises. Other African markets are not covered yet, and we will only add a market when it has enough responses to report on.
Hover or tap a country to see its status. The map shows coverage only, not scores.
Hypotheses for the inaugural edition
Three patterns Crelligent sees repeatedly in its diagnostic work. They are hypotheses, not findings. The inaugural edition will report how widely each one holds, including where we are wrong.
In many growing companies, core processes are not written down, so the founder or CEO still routes day-to-day work. We expect the Operating Model (L2) to be the most common primary constraint.
Layers: L2
Companies invest in technology (L3) but score lower on data and intelligence (L4): the software is in place, but nobody has a timely view of operations.
Layers: L3, L4
Exceptions are resolved by going to the top rather than through clear approval limits and controls (L5).
Layers: L5
Methodology · Version 1.0
This section sets out how the African Enterprise Health Index measures enterprises, who is included, how scores are calculated and how individual results are protected. It applies to the inaugural edition (Q4 2026). Any change to the method will be published here, with each edition.
Version 1.0 · Published October 2026 · Questions: aehi@crelligent.com
01What the index measures
The index scores each enterprise on the five layers of Crelligent's ESRE OS, a model of an enterprise as an operating system. Each layer depends on the ones below it.
The five layers are shown in the model above.
02How a score is calculated
Each layer is scored from 0 to 10, from the answers to the diagnostic. The five layer scores are combined into one ESRE OS Performance Score from 0 to 100, using these weights:
How the 100 points are made up
OS Performance Score = (L1×1.0 + L2×1.4 + L3×1.0 + L4×1.0 + L5×0.6) ÷ 5 × 10Each layer is scored from 0 to 10. An enterprise scoring 10 on every layer scores 100.
The Operating Model (L2) carries the highest weight because the other layers depend on it: technology automates it, data records it and governance controls it. Governance (L5) carries the lowest, because controls cannot make up for weak layers underneath them.
In Crelligent's diagnostic work, L2 is the layer that most often holds enterprises back. That is a hypothesis. The inaugural edition will test it, and the weights will be reviewed against the data.
Score bands (for example healthy, at risk, critical) are not fixed in advance. They will be set from the data once the inaugural sample is complete, and published with the edition.
For each enterprise, the primary constraint is the layer that most limits its performance. Where L2 scores below 6 out of 10, it is flagged as the primary constraint.
03Who is included
The index covers Nigerian mid-market enterprises. For the inaugural edition, that means private enterprises operating in Nigeria with:
Any enterprise can take the diagnostic and receive its own score. Enterprises outside this range are not included in the mid-market results; each edition states how many responses were excluded and why.
The diagnostic is designed to be completed by a CEO, founder or senior executive who can answer for the whole business.
04How data is collected
Data comes from two sources:
Participation is voluntary, so the sample is self-selected rather than random. Each edition reports the final sample size and its make-up (by sector, size and location), so readers can judge how far the results can be generalised.
05Anonymisation and minimum group size
06What each edition publishes
Editions are published quarterly. The inaugural edition covers Q4 2026.
07Limitations
08Change log
| Version | Date | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 1.0 | October 2026 | First published method, for the inaugural edition. |
The diagnostic takes about 10 minutes and is free.
Take part
The AEHI is built from the anonymised answers of the enterprises that take part. Take the diagnostic and you see your own ESRE OS Performance Score straight away. Your answers, without your name, become part of the inaugural edition.
Runs on crelligent.com. Designed for CEOs, founders and senior executives.
01 · You
A senior leader answers questions about how the enterprise runs, across the five OS layers. It takes about 10 minutes and is free.
02 · Private
You see your ESRE OS Performance Score and your five layer scores straight away. Only you and Crelligent see them.
03 · Anonymised
Names and identifying details are removed. Results are only combined in groups of at least 10 enterprises; smaller groups are merged into a broader one so no company can be picked out.
04 · Published
Each quarter, Crelligent publishes the aggregate results with the sample size, method and limitations stated. The inaugural edition covers Q4 2026.
Your individual answers and score are never published or shared with other participants. See the methodology for the full anonymisation rules.
Someone who can answer for the whole business: the CEO, founder, managing director or another senior executive. One response per enterprise.
No. The index publishes only group results, and no group has fewer than 10 enterprises. Your individual score is shown only to you.
Yes. The diagnostic and your score are free. Crelligent offers paid work to enterprises that want help on what the diagnostic finds, but taking part does not commit you to anything.
Yes. The index covers mid-market enterprises across Nigeria.
Yes, you will still get your score. Your answers will not be included in the mid-market results; the methodology explains the definition.
Yes. Email aehi@crelligent.com from the address you used and we will delete your responses. Results already published in aggregate cannot be changed, but they never identify you.
Executive Barometer · Wave 1, 2026
A 5-minute survey for founders, CEOs and senior executives. It asks what leaders believe about their own enterprise and the year ahead. You get your own Enterprise Confidence Index as soon as you finish.
The survey
Step 1 of 5
Wave 1, 2026
Method
The AEHI scores enterprises on evidence, through the diagnostic. The Barometer asks for judgement. We publish them side by side and never mix them, so the gap between the two can be seen.
Inaugural report · Q4 2026
The inaugural edition will benchmark how Nigerian mid-market enterprises are run, across the five OS layers. It will be free to read.
Any individual enterprise's name, answers or score.
Want your enterprise to be in it? Take the diagnostic (opens crelligent.com).
One email when the Q4 2026 edition is out. Nothing else unless you ask.
AEHI Research
Before the first AEHI edition publishes, here is the best published evidence, read through the five ESRE OS layers. Every figure in this section comes from a named source: the World Bank, PwC and SMEDAN. None of it is AEHI data.
Third-party data · sources listed belowThe environment
Asked for their single biggest obstacle, Nigerian firms choose electricity more than twice as often as the regional average. For medium firms (20 to 99 staff), the top three are electricity (20.6%), access to finance (16.4%) and tax rates (14.4%)[1]. These lists ask about the environment, so the way a business is run never appears on them.
Half of Nigerian firms name power or finance as their biggest obstacle. Both sit outside the firm.
% of firms choosing each as their single biggest obstacle, from a list of 15
Finance and power lead again. Internal ways of working do not appear on the list at all.
% of MSMEs naming each as a major challenge
L2 Operating Model · L4 Data & Intelligence
The World Bank scores management practices for firms with 20 or more workers, close to the AEHI's mid-market. Nigeria's index is 51.5 out of 100 (Sub-Saharan Africa 48.0)[1], but the average hides a split: strong reactions to problems, low scores on measured, achievable targets and on acting on under-performance.
Firms react well when something breaks (80.6) but score low on the routines that stop it breaking: measured, achievable targets and consequences.
Score out of 100, firms with 20 or more workers (100 = most structured practice)
Medium firms grew headcount about 9% a year while real sales grew about 1%: more people, little more output.
Annual growth, % a year, by firm size
Small (5-19)
Medium (20-99)
Large (100+)
Mapping to ESRE OS layers is Crelligent's reading, not the World Bank's. It matches the first AEHI hypothesis, which the inaugural edition will test.
L1 Business Design · L5 Governance
PwC's surveys of Nigerian family businesses, which include many founder-led mid-market firms, find them well behind global peers on governance policies, succession and written strategy.
Half of Nigerian family businesses have no governance policies at all, more than twice the global share.
% of family businesses, Nigeria vs global
Two in three have no formal mid-term plan, yet more than half expect to change their business model.
% of family businesses, Nigeria vs global
Whitepapers and briefs
Reports
The public surveys measure the environment and general practices. The AEHI measures how each enterprise is run, layer by layer, and publishes only anonymised totals.
The first benchmark of how Nigerian mid-market enterprises are run, across the five ESRE OS layers.
Get it when it publishesA five-minute survey of senior leaders: confidence, outlook, constraints and trust. Results publish when the wave closes.
Answer the BarometerSector, size and layer breakdowns, shown only where each group is large enough to report.
How the data will workSources
Figures are copied from the sources as published. Comparisons with Sub-Saharan Africa or global averages are the sources' own. The mapping to ESRE OS layers is Crelligent's.
Links open the original publications.
Partners
The AEHI is in its first edition. We are looking for research partners to review the method, networks that can invite their members to take part, and institutions that want to use the data once it is published.
Partners will be listed here once agreements are signed.
Universities, business schools and research institutes.
What it involves
Review the survey and scoring method, advise on sampling, and co-author analysis where there is a shared research interest.
What you get
Access to the anonymised, aggregated dataset for research, with credit as a research partner in each edition you contribute to.
Industry associations, chambers of commerce, founder and executive networks.
What it involves
Invite your members to take the diagnostic.
What you get
Every member who takes part gets a private score. Your network gets an aggregate view of its members, provided at least 10 take part.
Private equity, venture capital, development finance and banks.
What it involves
Invite portfolio companies or borrowers to take the diagnostic.
What you get
A baseline of operating health across the group in aggregate (at least 10 companies), and the published benchmark data as editions appear. Individual company results are shared only with that company’s own consent.
Tell us who you are and how you would like to work with the index. We reply within two working days.
Prefer email? aehi@crelligent.com