MTN Group, with operations in 17 countries across Africa, has been ranked the number one African brand and among the top 10 brands on the continent in the annual Brand Africa 100 survey.
MTN Group was the #1 African brand in both the spontaneous recall (where respondents were asked to name a brand across any category and region) and prompted recall (where respondents were guided to recall an African brand) rankings. This is the first time MTN has scooped both awards.
MTN was also named the highest-ranking telecoms brand on the continent, according to the annual Brand Africa 100 survey.
“We are humbled by the recognition and remain focused on playing a leading role in building a more digitally inclusive society across Africa. Using our brand power, distribution footprint and best-in-class connectivity infrastructure, we are working to facilitate a real change in the continent’s digital and financial inclusion”.
MTN Group President and CEO Ralph Mupita
CEO Ralph Mupita also acknowledged the company’s stakeholders, saying “Sincere thanks to our customers, MTNers, and all other important stakeholders for your ongoing support”.
MTN brand value at US$4.0 billion
The Brand Africa awards came at the same time as the release of Brand Finance’s Africa 150 2022 report, which showed that MTN had retained its position as the most valuable African brand.
Assigning MTN a brand value of US$4.0 billion, up 49%, Brand Finance stated that “Apart from telecommunications, the leading brand has diversified its services into fintech and mobile money across Africa. MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) application is performing exceedingly well and overtook its competition”.
As part of MTN’s refreshed strategy – Ambition 2025: Leading digital solutions for Africa’s progress –MTN overhauled its brand early in 2022. It has a new visual identity, which is modern, simple, bold and digitally dynamic, challenging consumers to act today to enjoy the benefits of progress tomorrow with its “what are we doing today campaign”.
MTN Group Executive for Marketing, Bernice Samuels, said she was pleasing to see the resurgence that African brands had made in the rankings in 2022 and called MTN awards “heartening”. According to her, “They encourage us to work harder to deliver on our purpose of enabling the benefits of a modern connected life to everyone”.
Mupita concurred, thanking MTN’s many stakeholders across the continent for their support: “In particular, I would like to thank our 276 million subscribers and 16, 390 employees for ensuring that MTN remains the top African brand”.
MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) application is performing exceedingly well and overtook its competitor, M-Pesa (brand value up 32% to US$246 million) by Safaricom in terms of volume of financial transactions and loyal customer base of 57 million active users.
Africa’s biggest brands in 2022
Every year, brand valuation consultancy, Brand Finance, puts 5, 000 of the world’s biggest brands to the test, and publishes around 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. Africa’s top 150 most valuable and strongest brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Africa 150 ranking.
African brands have benefited significantly from adapting to uncertain business conditions caused by Covid-19 by leveraging technological disruption to tackle supply chain issues and national lockdowns. Brands from diverse sectors including banking, telecommunications and food and beverage found innovative ways to connect with the customers online.
This digital transformation helped the top brands in Africa achieve a 28% increase in aggregate brand value to US$50.1 billion. Building strong brands across Africa, fuels growth in the economy which is creating more dynamic jobs in the long-term.
South African brands (value up by 30% to US$36.9 billion) are leading the African continent, followed by Nigerian brands (value up by 35% to US$3.2 billion), Egyptian brands (value up by 42% to US$3.1 billion), Moroccan brands (value up by 14% to US$2.6 billion) and Kenyan brands (value up by 69% to US$2.1 billion).
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