MTN ranked as most admired, valuable African brand

MTN has topped the Brand Africa 100 list as the most admired and most valuable African brand. Valued at over $5.4b, MTN is the only African brand valued over a billion dollars. The 2014 Brand Africa 100Ò rankings of the most admired and most valuable brands in sub-Saharan Africa were released at the Nairobi Stock Exchange in Kenya.

Apple, valued at $105bn replaced Samsung as the most valuable non-African brand, while Coca Cola retained its position as the most admired non-African brand in Africa.  Coca-Cola toppled Nokia as the overall most admired brand in Africa, while MTN moved up a spot in the admiration ranks among Africans.
Established in 2011, Brand Africa 100 measures and ranks the brands that consumers admire and their corresponding value. Brand Africa 100 was developed by Brand Africa in partnership with Brand Finance plc, the world’s leading independent valuation consultancy, and TNS, the globally respected consumer knowledge and information company, supported by Geopoll, the leading mobile survey platform with a database of nearly 200m users in emerging markets, to create a unique index and ranking that recognizes the most admired and valuable brands in Africa.

Non-African brands have continued to set the pace, commanding 77 of the 100 entries in the most admired brands and 99% of the value.   While African brands have retained a similar number of brands among the most admired (23 in 2014 compared to 24 in 2013) and African brands have not lost any value year to year ($11bn), their 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 accounts for 5% and Nigeria  3% rounding off the top 3 which make up 99% of the value of African brands.

The most admired regional brands are MTN (Southern Africa), Glo (West Africa), Tusker (East Africa) and Marsavco (Central Africa).  The most valuable regional brands are MTN (Southern Africa), Dangote (West Africa), Safaricom (East Africa) and Marsavco (Central Africa).
The most admired African nations mentioned spontaneously by Africans were Nigeria (West Africa), Kenya (East Africa) and South Africa (Southern Africa).

The 2014 Brand Africa 100Ò is based on a survey among a representative sample of eight countries – Ghana and Nigeria, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, DRC , Mozambique and South Africa – covering the major sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regions to establish the base top 100 most admired brands.  These countries represent 51% (477m) of SSA population and 67% ($1,065 trillion) of Africa’s GDP. Their countries’ brands are also often the dominant brands with a dominant influence and consumer base within their regions.