African brands ranking falls to an all-time low

African brands rank on the continent fell to an all-time low as the admiration for continent based companies continue to take a dent from the competition.

On Monday, Brand Africa announced its Africa’s 100 best brands in 2020 during the tenth anniversary of the rankings revealing a mere 13 local names on the list.

South Africa led the way with five of its firms on the list including Shoprite and DSTV. Nigeria closely followed with six brands on the list including Dangote and Jumia.

Kenya’s only representative on the illustrious list was Tusker while Ethiopia took the only other spot with apparel label Anbessa.

American based sports and fitness giant Nike took the top spot for the third year in a row as non-African brands scooped 87 percent of the top 100 brands in Africa.

On the overall listing, African brands have continued to decline in appeal falling by over 60 percent in the past decade.

Lamenting the outturn of own brand awareness on the continent, Brand African Chairman and Founder Thebe Ikalafeng worries the continent is losing its entrepreneurial competitive edge.

“It’s concerning that in the 10 years since the triumphant FIFA World Cup in South Africa which globally highlighted the promise and capability of Africa, and despite the vibrant entrepreneurial environment, Africa is not creating more competitive brands to meet the needs of its growing consumer market,” he said.

Chris Diaz a trustee of Brand Africa says African brands have the opportunity to enhance their brand leadership and revenues over the competition but need to invest in more brand strategies to give value to their consumers .

“The brands index changes saw market leadership based on consistent brand equity investments. Brands that positioned their innovation, brand emotional long term connections, competitive promotions with an excellent marketing mix, also resulted in growing new consumers and markets,” he said.

“South African , East and West African and Ethiopian brands showed consistent aggressive brand growth in Africa and scored high brand values and consumers experienced consistency in product and service quality.”

The Brand Africa survey is conducted among a representative sample of respondents 18 years and older, in 27 countries which collectively represent 50% of the continent.

The 2020 survey was conducted between February and April 2020 and yielded over 15,000 brand mentions and over 2,000 unique brands.

Here is the full list of Top 100 Most Admired Brands in Africa:

1. Nike-USA
2. Adidas-Germany
3. Samsung-South Korea
4. Coca-Cola-USA
5. Tecno-China
6. Apple-USA
7. MTN-South Africa
8. Puma-Germany
9. Gucci-Italy
10. Airtel-India
11. Toyota Japan
12. LG – South Korea
13. Vodafone/com/Safaricom/Mpesa – UK
14. Nestle – Switzerland
15. Dangote – Nigeria
16.  Zara – Spain 
17. Unilever – UK 
18. Pepsi -USA 
19. Mercedes Benz – Germany
20. Nokia Electronics – Finland
21. Itel Mobile – China
22. Orange – France
23. Sony Electronics – Japan
24. Huawei Electronics – China 
25. Google – USA
26. Anbessa – Ethiopia
27. Infinix Mobile China
28. Glo – Nigeria
29. Louis Vuitton – France
30. Danone – France
31. Chanel – France
32. Hewlett-Packard/HP Electronics – USA 
33. H&M – Sweden 
34. Indomie – Indonesia
35. FILA – Italy
36. DSTV – South Africa
37. Nivea – Germany
38. Blue Band Margarine – UK
39. Microsoft – USA
40. BMW – Germany
41. Lacoste – France
42. Versace – Italy
43. Fanta – USA 
44. Polo – USA 
45. Vlisco – Netherlands
46. Nasco – Nigeria
47. Tigo – Luxemburg
48. Converse All Star – USA 
49. OMO – UK 
50. Shoprite – South Africa 
51. KFC – USA 
52. Auchan – France
53. PZ Cussons – UK
54. Facebook – USA
55. Ford – USA
56. Amazon – USA
57. Guinness – Ireland 
58. Honda – Japan
59. Colgate – USA
60. Star Beer – Nigeria
61. Tiger – South Africa
62. Dell – USA
63. Vans – USA 
64. Toshiba – Japan
65. Jumia – Nigeria
66. Christian Dior – France
67. McDonalds – USA 
68. Always – USA
69. Reebok – Germany
70. Sunlight – UK
71. Close-Up – UK 
72. Cadbury – UK
73. Tusker – Kenya
74. Calvin Klein – USA 
75. Guess – USA
76. Oral B – USA 
77. Mirinda – USA
78. Philips – Netherlands
79. Victoria Secret – USA
80. Levi’s – USA
81. Prada – Italy
82. Clover – South Africa
83. Volkswagen – Germany
84. Audi – Germany
85. Sharp – Japan
86. BATA – Switzerland
87. Lipton Tea – UK
88. 7 UP – USA
89. Dettol – UK
90. Maltina – Nigeria
91. Ariel – USA
92. Alibaba – China
93. Jeep – USA
94. Nissan – Japan
95. Milo – Switzerland
96. Hisense – China
97. Ferrari – Italy
98. Dolce & Gabanna – Italy
99. LC Waikiki – Turkey
100. Sprite – USA