By Ishaya Ibrahim
Despite 64% of Africans expressing confidence in the continent, they remain loyal to brands outside of the continent, says Brand Africa in its latest Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands research and rankings.
The report also revealed that African nations account for 64% of the Top 50 most admired countries, with South Africa, Nigeria, the United States, China, and Kenya the top 5 countries perceived to contribute to a better Africa.
The report added: “All members of the newly expanded 9-member BRICS block, except Iran, made the list, that’s dominated by Southern and West Africa which account for 44% of the Top 50 nations Africans admire globally.”
According to the findings, South African telecommunications group, MTN, Nigerian conglomerate, Dangote, Zambian consumer group, Trade Kings, Nigerian telecommunications group, Glo, South African media group, DStv and Ethiopian Airlines retain their respective positions as the Top 5 most admired African brands.
It added that 14% African share in the ranking came from six countries – South Africa and Nigeria scored five points each, Ethiopia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Tanzania one point each.
The report showed Europe retained its 37% share of the Top 100, while North America declined 12.5% to 28% as Asia grew its share by 23.5% to capture 21% of the African market.
According to the ranking, Nike, Adidas, Samsung, Coca Cola and Apple have all retained their positions for the 5th consecutive year as the Top 5 most admired brands in Africa.
The report noted: “In an interesting insight, affirming how entrenched non-African brands are in Africa, many such as Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Samsung, Lacoste, Total (Energies) and Guinness are mistakenly recalled among the most admired ‘African’ brands when the question is asked, ‘What African brands do you admire?’”
Among organisations, UNICEF (originally called the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund) and UN, are the most admired NGOs, Coca-Cola is the most admired non-African organization, and MTN is the number one African brand.
“While the share of African brands remains a disappointing 14%, with Africans overwhelmingly believing that mostly Africa will contribute to a better Africa, as nations continue to create an enabling environment for African entrepreneurs and the AfcFTA opportunity is realized, it’s just a matter of time, but ultimately the share of African brands will increase,” says Thebe Ikalafeng, founder and chairman of Brand Africa.
Recognising that brands are a vector of a nation or organisation’s identity, reputation competitiveness, every year, since 2011, Brand Africa, through its independent research partners, Kantar, Geopoll across sub-Sahara Africa, Integrate in North Africa, and Analysis in the East African Islands, conducts research in over 30 markets which account for as much as 85% of the continent’s GDP and population. The results are published as the lead cover story in the June edition of African Business, the continent’s foremost business magazine since 1966.
Over the next few weeks, Brand Africa will release country-specific results in key countries across the continent.