Africa’s Best Brands ’25 ranked: Global brands still dominate Africa

Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana’s first president, famously said: “we face neither East nor West; we face forward,” to assert an independent, forward-looking African identity rooted in self-determination rather than allegiance to the western or eastern blocs. According to the African Development Bank, Africa’s real GDP is projected to grow by 4.2% in 2025. A growing middle class is shaping new patterns of consumption, connectivity, and aspiration. 

But when it comes to one of the key levers of the economy – the brands we admire and consume – for the past 15 years, since this ranking has been developed, Africa has had its gaze firmly east and west.

Despite a growth in confidence in the continent, the share of African brands in our 2025 Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands ranking has crashed to a historic low of 11%, down from a peak of 25% a decade ago and from 14% last year. (scroll down for ranking table)

This year we expanded our survey to explore which western and eastern nations are the most influential in Africa – beyond just admiration. We did this using a computation of foreign direct investment (FDI) into Africa and brand admiration across all the seven categories covered in the study – including media, finance and other categories that we also measured.

If only brand admiration is considered, the top three non-African nations are the US, with 34 unique brand mentions, China with 13, and the UK with 10. If all nations, including African, are considered just on brand mentions, South Africa and Nigeria lead Africa with 14 each.

Once FDI is also incorporated in our computation, the influence doesn’t change – the US (#1), China (#2) and the UK (#3) lead in influence in Africa. But when we then used a weighted average, considering GDP size, the tables are upended. The UK takes the top spot; Finland, punching above its weight, comes in at #3; and the US drops to #10 and China to #15.

With South Africa, now a member of the BRICS bloc of countries, presiding over the G20 this year, we wanted also to look at which bloc Africans associated with at a brand and consumer level. While African brands make up only 11% of the Top 100, brands with G20 countries of origin comprise 81%, and BRICS+ brands account for 20% of the Top 100. Companies such as China’s Transsion Holdings, parent company of mobile phone maker Tecno, have upwards of 50% market share of the African smartphone market.

Irrespective of which metrics are used in the rankings, there’s no denying the influence of the west and east. The decline in Africa’s share of the Top 100 shows that western and Asian nations remain the most influential of those investing in Africa and shoring up their soft power through brands and FDI. And this matters; because the more Africa consumes foreign brands, the more it exports jobs and profits, and the larger the gap between makers and consumers. The continent needs to make more and market better. The markets exist.

Doing good for Africa

In an increasingly fractured and isolationist world, we expanded our survey to understand which brands were seen to contribute positively to the continent.

South Africa’s MTN and the ubiquitous US brand Coca-Cola are the most admired African and international brands perceived to be doing good for society and the environment. Their numerous community-led initiatives appear to be paying off. The United Nations, which itself is struggling with budgetary cuts and attacks from some of the bigger member states, still has a strong standing in Africa and is the most admired non-profit institution contributing to positive change in society and the environment.

As has been the pattern for a decade now, Dangote and MTN lead the rankings as the most admired African brands both when consumers are prompted and in spontaneous recall. 

Traditional banks still dominate 

Despite growth and rapid adoption of mobile money platforms and fintechs, traditional banking platforms dominate the list of the most admired financial services brands, accounting for 92%. In stark contrast to the continent’s leadership in fintech, China’s Opay and the USA’s Visa are the only financial services brands in the rankings that are not banks rooted in physical branches. 

Standard Bank, Africa’s largest bank by capital and assets with a large African footprint, leads our most admired financial brand ahead of other African banking giants. This is an encouraging evolution over the last 15 years. Having African-owned banks that can fund the continent’s development is key. Those who control the levers of finance control the levers of development and, until recently, the size and reputation of African banks was on the whole weak. This has changed for the better.

Can the younger generation change Africa’s branding landscape?

Africa is the world’s youngest continent, with over 70% of its population under the age of 35 and a median age of under 20. One would assume that brand preferences would be markedly different between the young and the older generations. Not quite. In the 2025 Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands, preferences across generational lines are more alike than one might have assumed. Nike, the #1 overall brand for the past eight years, is the leading brand for Generation Z (18 – 28 years) and millennials (29 – 44 years), while Samsung, the #3 overall brand in Africa, takes the top spot among the older Generation X (45 – 60) and baby boomers (61+). Among African brands, there’s even more consensus across generations in their preferences for the African giants MTN and Dangote. Generation X, Generation Z and baby boomers prefer MTN and millennials prefer Dangote.

George Orwell is supposed to have said: “every generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one before it, and wiser than the one that comes after it.” But, when it comes to brand preferences, the generations are little different.

The benchmark global brands Nike and Samsung, and African brands MTN and Dangote, successfully appeal across generations and have clearly mastered the arts of staying relevant over time and of delivering on their word. They evolve without losing their core identity, becoming not just products, but touchstones in people’s lives through the generations, and yardsticks of success and lifestyle.

Let’s take a look at the leading African brands. For example, for a South African baby boomer (61+), MTN, which last year celebrated its 30th anniversary, may represent a symbolic shift from the isolation of apartheid into a new era of connection, democracy, and hope. For a Nigerian Gen Xer (45–60), MTN may recall the excitement of being among its first 50,000 subscribers in Nigeria. For Gen Z (18–29), MTN might be synonymous with social media and freedom of speech, thanks to the “social bundles” that power TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube access.

Dangote holds the number one spot among millennials (29–44) – a generation that witnessed the rise of influencer culture and resonates with the demand for personality-driven brands. 

For them Dangote is synonymous with its founder, Aliko Dangote, a figure who has graced the covers of magazines and been named Africa’s leading businessman. Pop culture has not escaped his influence: Dangote is name-dropped in at least 20 Nigerian songs, including Burna Boy’s Dangote, which has garnered over 26 million views on YouTube. This is a testament to the power of personal branding and the role of cultural figures in shaping brand perception.

The relevance of great brands is built not only on products or services but on emotional and cultural resonance, and MTN and Dangote, like Nike, are the reference brands in Africa.

Another category that stands out is luxury brands. Though their authentic goods are not accessible everywhere in the continent, their visibility and reverence by media celebrities has propelled their admiration among the younger generations, Generation Z and millennials. Gucci ranks 6th for both generations and Louis Vuitton at 9th for Gen Z.

Despite a global slowdown in the luxury market, with Vogue Business reporting a loss of 50 million consumers of luxury last year due to declining demand in China and the US, Africa is showing signs of growth. The continent’s aspirational values still resonate strongly and it doesn’t appear to be changing.

According to Luxity’s State of the Luxury Market in Africa report, luxury retail trading density has risen by 8%, outperforming the global average. Young African consumers are increasingly drawn to luxury, redefining what aspiration looks like on the continent.

Despite generational differences in worldview or adoption of technology, brand preferences reflect a surprising alignment among generations. While each generation may consider itself savvier than the next or previous, their brand choices suggest otherwise.

Shaping the African narrative

Africa’s leading media brand, the broadcaster DStv, has received regulatory approval to be acquired by French-based Canal+. DStv has always been present in our various rankings. It was the only African media brand that challenged the dominance of global behemoths such as the BBC (UK), CNN (USA) or Al Jazeera (Qatar). The new owners have guaranteed a similar strategy and investments in the African content. But one may ask: which other regional media groups can provide a true African voice with the continent’s interests at heart? Africa’s story is in perilous territory. Africa’s narrative or identity – how it is seen, remembered, or represented – is not often in the continent’s hands. 

Africans can no longer keep professing a love for Africa but voting elsewhere with their money. Unless the downward pattern shifts, we face an addiction to foreign brands, which in turn impacts our aspirations, how we think and what we consume. Africa needs to invest in the youthful entrepreneurial spirit and our competitive advantage. We have a distinctive cultural capital and have shown leadership in areas such as fintech that can forge a new way forward.

It’s time to reset the agenda. And unless initiatives such as the African Continental Free Trade Area gain traction to help create large markets for our locally made products, African companies will be left out of the explosion of brands that will move freely across the borders.

This is not an agenda against non-African brands, but a call to lift the game for African brands. The next chapter in Africa’s brand story – its identity, image and competitiveness – may very well belong to those who combine heritage, distinction, enterprise and resilience.

Methodology: Determining Africa’s best brands

Now in its 15th year, Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands stands as the continent’s most comprehensive and credible barometer of brand performance and consumer admiration. It is produced using a rigorous, authentically African, consumer-led methodology.

The study is independently conducted by the world’s most respected global research firms, with deep coverage and experience across Africa – GeoPoll and Kantar – and supported by regional research partners – Integrate (Morocco), Gopinion (Algeria), Analysis (Mauritius), and Oxygen (Namibia).

The 2025 study spans 31 African countries, representing over 85% of Africa’s population and GDP. The research is conducted in the eight major languages that are official or widely spoken in the five major economic regions of Africa – europhone (English, French and Portuguese), Austronesian (Malagasy), Afro-Asiatic (Arabic, Amharic) and major indigenous African languages such as Swahili and Kinyarwanda – to ensure linguistic and cultural diversity, inclusion, comprehension and standardisation.

Data collection was conducted through a mix of mobile, SMS, and face-to-face methodologies, ensuring inclusivity across both urban and rural demographics. Consumers aged 18 and older in the sampled countries are asked to spontaneously identify their most admired brands across several categories: brands that are doing good for society and the environment; brands contributing to a better Africa; African and non-African brands; and the most admired nations – regardless of the respondent’s nationality or the brand’s origin. To understand insights of categories with low unaided recall but significant societal influence, in 2017 Brand Africa introduced prompted (aided) questions for media and financial services brands.

The 2025 study generated more than 150,000 brand mentions across 5,930 unique brands.

Strategic insights and analysis were led by Kantar and Brand Leadership – Africa’s premier branding, strategic communications, and intellectual property advisory firm. The final results are reviewed and validated by the Brand Africa Research and Rankings Integrity Advisory Board, safeguarding the independence and credibility of the rankings.

What sets these rankings apart:

First, these rankings are Africa-focused – conceived in Africa, for Africa. They are comprehensive, covering 31 countries across all five economic regions and multiple languages. They are empirical – rooted in robust, consumer-led insights.

They are independent – conducted by globally trusted, neutral research partners. And, finally, they are brand-neutral – unsponsored and free from commercial influence.

To gain a place on the list of Africa’s Most Admired Brands, a brand must be recalled in at least one country beyond its home market and must receive a minimum of 10% of its total mentions from outside its country of origin. Where brands operate under multiple names – such as Stanbic/Standard Bank, Vodacom/Vodafone/Safaricom/Mpesa (Vodafone group), DStv/GoTV/Multichoice (DStv group), or have sub-brands, like iPhone, iPad, or iWatch from Apple, they are consolidated under the most dominant consumer-facing brand.

Brands that are created in Africa and maintain a dominant African identity – regardless of current ownership – are recognised as African brands. Examples include Tusker and Safaricom from Kenya, and Castle Lager from South Africa.

Since its inception in 2011, Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands has grown from just eight sample markets to 31. Grounded in a rigorous, globally benchmarked methodology, it has yielded consistent results and established itself as a trusted lens into Africa’s dynamic brand landscape.

Research leads: Karin Du Chenne (Chief Growth Officer, Africa Middle East – Kantar); Matthieu Sauvage-Mar (VP of Client Development – GeoPoll); Innocentia Liphoko (Research Director – Brand Africa).