Tech brands triumph in the latest 2014 Brand Africa 100 rankings

Brand Africa has announced the 2014 Brand Africa 100, a ranking of the most admired and most valuable brands in sub-sahara Africa. Established in 2011, Brand Africa 100® measures and ranks the brands that consumers admire and their corresponding value. The list was dominated by electronics companies (17%), beverages (14%), auto manufacturers (14%), apparel (12%) and telecommunications (10%).

MTN topped the African list as most valuable and most admired African brand. Valued at over US$5.4-billion, MTN is the only African brand valued over a billion dollars. Apple, at US$105-billion, replaced Samsung as the continent’s most valuable non-African brand, reflecting the Korean company’s global issues. Coca Cola retained its position as the most admired non-African brand in Africa, toppling Nokia as the overall most admired brand in Africa.

The 2014 Brand Africa 100 is based on a survey among a representative sample of eight countries, covering the major sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regions to establish the top 100 most admired brands. These countries include Ghana and Nigeria (West Africa; Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (East Africa); DRC (Central Africa) and Mozambique and South Africa (Southern Africa). All together, these countries represent 51% (477m) of SSA’s population and 67% (US$1.065-trillion) of Africa’s GDP. These countries’ brands are also often the dominant brands with a dominant influence and consumer base within their regions.

African brands vs Non-African brands

What is also clear from the rankings is that non-African brands have a better command in the African market. The non-African brands command 77 of the 100 entries in the most admired brands and 99% of the value and it is worth too that most of the admired brands are electronics companies.

African brands have performed fairly without any major decline. They have not lost any value year to year (US$11-billion), but the brands have not gained any market share and their worth has declined in relative terms (from 2% of total value in 2013 to only 1%).

South Africa, with 11 of the 23 African brands, remains the most dominant branding nation, accounting for 91% of the value of the brands. Kenya at 5% and Nigeria at 3% round off the top 3 which make up 99% of the value of African brands.

“While non-African brands understandably dominate African brands in value because of their sheer volumes, historical admiration and investment, that African brands remain competitive among the most admired brands bodes well for the future of African brands,” Says Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa and Chairman of Brand Finance Africa. “As African economies grow and Africans become wealthier and grow their brand building capacity, the demand for indigenous brands or non-African brands that are built on African insights will prosper. It’s an appetizing opportunity for Made in Africa brands.”

Tech brands triumph

In the ranking electronics companies commanded the most percentage at 17%. The most admired regional brands in the tech space are MTN (Southern Africa) and Glo (West Africa). In the top ten there are six companies that operate within the technology space.

Rankings