MTN, Dangote, GT Bank in Top 100 Most Admired Brands in Africa

According to a survey conducted by Brand Africa 100, Cement manufacturer Dangote and telecom giant MTN are the most admired African brands but American sports and fitness giant, Nike maintained the number one brand spot in Africa for the third year in a row.

Dangote and MTN brands together with Safaricom of Kenya are the highest brands listed on the leading Sub-Saharan stock markets, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Nairobi Securities Exchange. Nigeria’s GT Bank gained the top spot in financial services whiles United Kingdom’s BBC retained its media category ranking as the most admired media brand in Africa.

African brands only occupy 13 of the 100 entries, seven less from last year and there is no Ghanaian company or brand among the top 100 brands in Africa.

Leading countries of origin for African brands include Nigeria with 6 brands, South Africa with 5, Kenya and Ethiopia with one each. Non-African brands accounted for 87% of the brands in the top 100 brands in Africa.

Out of the top 100 brands in the 2010/11 rankings, only half remains in the tables due to mergers, acquisitions and obsolescence. The rankings pointed out that Europe retained the continental lead with 42/100(+5% increase), North America with All-USA brands of 29/100 (+3.5%) and Asia with 16/100 (-6%). USA’s Amazon (56) and China’s Alibaba (92) are the highest-profile technology or e-commerce new entries.

Established 10 years ago, the Brand Africa 100 is Africa’s Best Brands survey and rankings that have established themselves as the most authoritative survey, analysis, and metric of brands in Africa. The Brand Africa 100 is also a consumer-led survey which seeks to establish brand preferences across Africa.

The survey is conducted among a representative sample of respondents 18 years and older, in 27 countries which collectively represent 50% of the continent, covering all economic regions and accounting for an estimated 80% of the population and the GDP of Africa. The 2020 survey was conducted between February and April 2020 and yielded over 15,000 brand mentions and over 2,000 unique brands.

What does this mean for Africa?

The survey clearly shows Africans have a taste preference for foreign products, especially that of Europe’s. It also spells out Africans’ dependency on foreign products and their neglect of African-owned brands. This consumer behaviour affects the economic growth of Africa as its imports are higher than its exports. For Africa to witness significant growth in its economy, it needs to cut down on its imports and support African brands. This will also gradually cut down Africans’ dependency on foreign brands and products.