TECNO Mobile has grown to be a household name in the African continent, thanks to the brand’s ever-growing popularity across many countries. An evidence of that popularity has been documented by Brand Africa who have released a report highlighting Africa’s most admired brands across different categories.
Standing out from the crowd is China-based TECNO Mobile who have made a name for themselves by selling affordable smartphones and feature phones in the continent. Last year, TECNO ranked 14th most admired brand overall, but that has since changed as the company shot to 7th most admired brand in Africa, soaring past big brands such as Nokia, Huawei and even Google.
Under the electronics and computers category, TECNO Mobile takes up the third position behind Samsung and Apple respectively. This is a huge deal for the brand who have been a lot to promote their visibility internationally, including signing a partnership with English football club, Manchester City and taking up various CSR projects in the respective countries that they operate in the continent.
In the financial services sector, Safaricom’s M-Pesa remains the continent’s top mobile money brand, followed by Airtel Money, PayPal and Orange Money.
Other tech-related brands which had a spot on the podium include Google which was ranked first under the Media category, followed by DStv and Facebook. Interestingly, Africans admire MTN more than they do any other telco in the continent. MTN ranked 6th overall and first in its category, followed by Airtel and Safaricom, who close the top three in the Telecommunications category.
African Brands vs Brands in Africa
Whilst the above discussion included both overseas brands that operate in Africa and brands that are based in Africa, Brand Africa noted that brands founded and based in Africa are on the rise, challenging the relevance of global brands in the continent. Nigeria’s Dangote cement and Glo Mobile take the crown as most admired African brands followed by South Africa’s MTN and Shoprite, Kenya’s Tusker and Ethiopia’s Anbessa – a shoe manufacturing company.
Out of the top 20 most Admired African brands, only three are based in Kenya, with a majority of the brands being South African or Nigerian.
“African brands have an important role in helping to build the African brand,” says Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa and Brand Leadership. “These rankings are an important metric of the progress Africa is making in creating home-grown world-class brands that are changing the narrative on African competitiveness, image and reputation and contributing to its socio-economic transformation.”
