Nigeria, Most Admired African Nation In Spite of Criticisms

In spite of constant bashing Nigeria receives from its citizens at home and show of apparent cynicism and doubts on its potentials, the country has emerged as the most admired African nation in a survey by African Business magazine in partnership with Brand Africa, Brand Finance Africa and TNS.


The report, which listed 100 most admired and valuable brands in Africa, notes that Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa topped the most admired African nations mentioned spontaneously by Africans.


The report says the 2014 Brand Africa 100 is based on a survey among a representative sample of eight countries, covering the major sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regions to establish the base top 100 most admired brands. These countries, Ghana and Nigeria (West Africa; Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda (East Africa); DRC (Central Africa), and Mozambique and South Africa (Southern Africa).


Collectively, these countries represent 51 percent (477m) of SSA population and 67 percent ($1,065trn) of Africa’s GDP. Their countries’ brands are also often the dominant brands with a dominant influence and consumer base within their regions.


Presently, Nigeria has the highest population in Africa, and the recent re-basing of the economy ranked it the largest economy in Africa. Nigerian economy in 2013 received a total of $21 billion of foreign currency remittances out of $32 billion remittances into Africa.


In the report, pan-African telecoms giant, MTN, topped the African list as the most valuable and most admired African brand.

This was contained in a ranking of the most admired and most valuable brands in SSA by African Business magazine in partnership with Brand Africa, Brand Finance Africa and TNS.


At $5.4 billion, MTN is the only African brand valued over a billion dollars. Apple, at $105 billion 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 MTN as the overall most admired brand in Africa.


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 Industries (West Africa), Safaricom (East Africa), and Marsavco (Central Africa).


The report says non-African brands have continued to set the pace, commanding 77 of the 100 entries in the most admired brands and 99 percent of the most valuable brands ranking. While African brands have retained a similar number of brands among the most admired (23), African brands have not lost any value year to year ($11bn), as their brands have not gained any market share globally 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 percent of the value of the brands. Kenya at 5 percent and Nigeria at 3 percent round off the top three, which make up 99 percent of the value of African brands.


Established in 2011, Brand Africa 100 measures and ranks the brands that consumers admire and their corresponding value.


Written By: Daniel Obi