African Business Magazine Releases Its Ranking of Africa’s Most Admired Brands

The June issue of pan-African business magazine, African Business, features its annual listing of Africa’s most admired brands, the Brand Africa 100. The ranking is developed by pan-African branding and reputation advisory firm, Brand Leadership Group supported by GeoPoll, the leader in mobile-based market research throughout Africa, and strategic analysis and insights by Kantar, the world’s leading data, insights and consulting company.

The ranking was officially launched this morning at the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at an event organised by Brand Leadership and Brand Africa, who first launched the Brand Africa 100 in 2011. Nike, MTN, Dangote, Ecobank and BBC were recognised as the most admired brands on the continent.

In a relatively stable Top 100 list, the US sports and fitness mega brand, Nike, retains the overall #1 brand in Africa spontaneously recalled by consumers. South African telecoms brand MTN is the #1 African brand spontaneously recalled brand, while surging Ethiopian brand Anbessa Shoes, at #2, swopped positions with Nigerian conglomerate, Dangote, which is the #3 most admired brand of African of origin. However, when consumers are prompted to recall the most admired African brand, Dangote retains the #1 position.

The Brand Africa 100 rankings are based on a survey among a representative sample of respondents 18 years and older, conducted in 25 countries across Africa. Covering all African economic regions, collectively these countries account for an estimated 80% of the continent’s population and 75% of the GDP.

Overall, the 2018/19 Brand Africa 100 list, which is calculated from 15,000 brand mentions illustrates a very diversified range of brands in Africa and shows year on year consistency with 80% of the Top 100 brands having been in the Top 100 Most Admired Brands in previous years.

Commenting on this year’s rankings, Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa and Brand Leadership stressed the importance of African brands in helping change the perception of Africa globally. “It is disappointing that despite its vibrant entrepreneurial environment, Africa is not creating new competitive brands to meet the needs of its growing consumer market. These rankings are an important metric of and challenge for creating home-grown competitive African brands that will transform the African promise and change its narrative and image as a competitive continent. African brands have an important role in helping to build the African brand.”

The June issue of African Business Magazine is available on newsstands in 75 countries and via the app store and the magazine’s digital channels.