In 2014, MTN was the second most admired brand after Coca-Cola, which has now dropped two places to sit in third position and Samsung which dropped a position to second. The three have for the second year running taken the top three positions of most admired brands in Africa.
The telecom operator moved a position above Samsung and Coca-Cola to become the most admired brand in Africa and maintained its position as the most valuable African brand.
MTN is the only African brand in the Top 10 of the most admired brands. The next African brand, GLO/Globacom comes in at position 12. However, there is no African brand in the top 30 of the most valuable brands. The highest, MTN is ranked 40th with a business volume of US$4.7 billion. This is however a 13% drop in its BV from US$5.4 billion.MTN is followed by Multichoice (DStv/Govt) (66), Safaricom (70), Dangote Group (72), Tusker (73), among others.
The second highest most admired telecom company in Africa is Airtel which sits in the seventh position, up from number 11 in 2014. The two telecom companies also feature amongst the Top 100 most valuable brands with Airtel occupying the 42nd position with a business volume of US$4.5 billion. In the East African region, however, MTN doesn’t feature in the top 10 most admired brands.
Coca-Cola and Airtel feature prominently here, occupying the first and second positions respectively. This could be as a result of Coca-Cola and Airtel’s large footprint in the region. In Uganda’s case, two other companies; Mukwano and Movit feature in the Top 100 most admired brands in Africa.
Mukwano is in 39th position up from 81st in 2014 while Movit is in position 62.Uganda’s biggest indigenous Bank, Centenary is among the top 25 most admired financial services brands. The bank is the 19th position and is the only Ugandan bank on the list.
Nigeria’s First Bank stayed true to its name as it is ranked in top position in Africa, closely followed by South Africa’s Standard Bank. Allen A. Ayebare, the Chief Manager Corporate Affairs and Communication at Centenary Bank told this magazine that Centenary Bank listens to its customers and that is one of the reasons the bank is making inroads into customers’ hearts
.“We have set up several platforms, both offline and online where we engage and get cues on where to improve, innovate, grow or slow down. It is with this information that extensive research is done leading to a customer-centric strategy with the required products, services, programs, branches, corporate social responsibility engagements, to name but a few,” she explained.
Adding that the bank will not relent in responding to customer needs and innovating while adjusting strategy where necessary.“We are humbled by the ranking! And want to thank the customers and staff for making the brand what it is.”
Uganda’s Galaxy FM is amongst the Top 25 Most admired media brands in Africa. The Kampala based radio station is ranked in the 21st position and is the only media house from Uganda in the list.
The Brand Africa 100 survey shows that established brands in Africa have held their ground. Homegrown African brands account for a nearly quarter of the companies on the rankings, a proportion that has been stable over the past three years.