MTN retains its position as the most valuable brand in Africa

With an estimated brand value of $4 billion, MTN has retained the top spot on the ranking of the most valuable African brands in the world. Apart from telecommunications, it has diversified its services into fintech and mobile money across the continent.

This is according to the new Brand Finance Africa 150 2022 report by leading brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance.

It asserts that MTN’s Mobile Money (MoMo) application is performing exceedingly well and overtook its competition, Safaricom’s M-Pesa, in terms of the volume of financial transactions through the application. With a loyal customer base of 57 million active users, M-Pesa’s brand value increased by 32% to reach $246 million.

Every year, Brand Finance puts 5 000 of the world’s biggest brands to the test, and publishes around 100 reports, ranking brands across all sectors and countries. Africa’s top 150 most valuable and strongest brands are included in the annual Brand Finance Africa 150 ranking.

African brands have benefited significantly from adapting to uncertain business conditions caused by Covid-19 by leveraging technological disruption to tackle supply chain issues and national lockdowns. Brands from diverse sectors including banking, telecommunications and food & beverage found innovative ways to connect with the customers online.

This digital transformation helped the top brands in Africa achieve a 28% increase in aggregate brand value to $50.1 billion. Building strong brands across Africa fuels growth in the economy which is creating more dynamic jobs in the long-term.

South Africa in the lead

Following a 30% increase in estimated brand value, South African brands are now worth $36.9 billion. This makes the country the undisputed brand leaders in Africa, followed by Nigerian brands (worth $3.2 billion), Egyptian brands (worth $3.1 billion), Moroccan brands (worth $2.6 billion) and Kenyan brands (worth $2.1 billion).

Jeremy Sampson, managing director, Brand Finance Africa, said, “African brands have achieved strong performances by being agile amid change in the business environment. Whilst South African brands will continue to dominate the ranking for some time, there are encouraging signs of strong brands emerging around the continent, especially amongst the banking and telecommunication sectors.”

Cheers, to Tusker!

Meanwhile, Kenyan beer brand Tusker achieved an impressive 132% brand value growth this year, more than doubling to $50 million in brand value. This makes it Africa’s fastest growing brand.

This brand value growth was noteworthy as it was achieved amidst uncertain business conditions, including global supply chain crisis, and the closure of restaurants and bars due to pandemic-induced restrictions. The brand overcame this challenge by employing social media marketing and influencer marketing as its primary method of promotion throughout the lockdown. By partnering with athletes and social media influencers, Tusker created engaging online content to increase demand, sales and brand recall.

The latest report furthermore describes Capitec Bank as the strongest brand in Africa with a AAA+ brand rating.

The South African bank is forming strategic partnerships to keep up with market and sector-wide trends in online banking and digital transformation. Most recently, Capitec Bank partnered with IT consulting firm Entersekt to leverage behavioural analytics and to enable a higher number of online transactions using e-commerce platforms.

The bank also works alongside US-based software brand nCino to provide more efficient and more effective banking services to consumers with the help of cloud banking and digital automation.

 Banking brands, including Standard Bank, First National Bank and Absa are significantly contributing to the success of African brands with 26% of the total brand value growth. The growth of African banks in the ranking is facilitated by focusing on digital payments and online banking.

Similarly, the telecommunications sector led by MTN, Vodacom, and Maroc Telecom is also focusing on mobile applications as a strategic means to engage with users. Telecom brands have relied on growth in internet usage and mobile data requirements with major brands pivoting to a primarily digital strategy.

Lastly, retail brands such as South African Woolworths (with a brand value of $1.2 billion), followed by Shoprite and Spar SA have recovered from the impact of the pandemic with their impressive ability to adapt to changing customer needs in a time of economic disruption.

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