East African Breweries Limited’s (EABL) flagship beer Tusker has been ranked among the top 100 most admired brands in Africa, adding to the long list of accolades the alcoholic beverage has earned over the years further entrenching its status as a global label.
On Monday, Brand Africa, an agency that ranks brands in Africa based on their reception in the continent released its 10th-anniversary rankings of Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands in a list that featured Tusker at 73rd position of the most admired brands in the continent placing the Kenyan beer shoulder to shoulder with global giants such as Nike, Adidas, and Samsung.
Nike, Adidas, Samsung, Coca Cola, Tecno, Apple, MTN, Puma, Gucci and Airtel make the cut of the top 10 fancied brands in Africa respectively.
Equity Bank, Kenya Commercial Bank (KCB) and M-PESA feature in list of most admired finance brands in Africa at position at position 11, 12 and 17 respectively.
Safaricom is ranked as the 12th most admired African brand, falling six places from last year’s ranking when it figured in sixth place.
Dangote Group (Nigeria) is the most admired African brand followed by MTN (South Africa), DStv (South Africa), Anbessa (Ethiopia), Azam (Tanzania), Glo (Nigeria), Ethiopian Airlines, Vodacom (South Africa), Shoprite (South Africa) and Innoson (Nigeria).
Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman, Brand Africa and the Brand Leadership Group opines that although progress is being made, very few African brands are challenging their globally acclaimed competitors.
“When you look at African brands today, would you say they are stronger than they were 10 years ago?
As was the case at the turn of the decade, there remains a stronger enthusiasm for building African
brands,” poses Ikalafeng.
“But the rhetoric doesn’t match the reality. There is not as much progress in the narrative about creating great brands. If you look at some of the stalwart brands, whether it is the MTNs, the Safaricoms, the Dangotes, those have consolidated their strengths and their brands remain a staple across the continent. But these are a minority: we need to see a lot more brands coming to the fore,” he adds.
Ikalafeng further avers that Coronavirus presents African brands with an opportunity to emerge from the shadow of global brands.
‘As our Africa’s Best Brands initiative shows, we have relied on non-African brands for luxury but on African brands for essentials. During this crisis, where the non-African and other luxury brands have been put on pause, we’ve relied ever more on the essential brands, mostly African, for our day to day,” says Ikalafeng.
“Out of this crisis those essential brands that have delivered with empathy, urgency, and necessity will
be rewarded. The time out of the global spotlight due to the pandemic has created an opportunity to deepen
local brands’ engagement with African consumers in their time of need beyond just their functional needs
and has laid a foundation and an opportunity once more for African brands to rise to the challenge,” he adds.
Below is a list of the Top 27 most admired brands in Africa.
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