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Kenya shines in Africa’s lineup of admired brands

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NSE chief executive Geoffrey Odundo, NIC Bank general manager for marketing, communications and citizenship Emily Kinuthia and Brand Integrated managing partner Richard Mukoma during the announcement of the Most Admired Brands in Kenya at the Exchange Building on June 25, 2019. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG

Kenya is home to 16 percent of the 25 most admired brands in Africa, according to a survey by the Nairobi Stock Exchange in partnership with Geopoll, Kantar, Brand Leadership and africapractice.

The Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands survey shows that South Africa has more admired brands, accounting for 24 per cent, while Kenya ties at second place with Nigeria.

Technology companies were generally more admired than their counterparts in other sectors, accounting for 18 per cent.

They were closely followed by consumer and non-cyclical brands at 16 per cent while motor vehicle manufacturers were third at 11 per cent. Luxury brands made a strong showing in fourth positionn (10 per cent). Among the most admired luxury brands in Africa were Versace, Rolex, Fendi and Chanel.

Overall, Nike emerged as Africa's most admired brand, followed by Addidas in second place and Samsung in third. Nike, an American brand, had retained the pole position in the previous survey while Addidas, a German company, went up one notch to displace Samsung, the Korean mobile phone and consumer gadgets manufacturer. Coca Cola remained unchanged at position four while Tecno, the Chinese mobile phone maker closed the top five positions.

Among African brands, MTN, a mobile phone services company was the most admired. It was followed by Ethiopian shoe maker Anbessa and Aliko Dangote's industrial company, Dangote. MTN was also voted most admired in the telecommunications segment. The Nigerian telco, Glo, was number four while Econet Wireless rounded up the top five. The respondents who picked these firms were unprompted. The brands shifted around a little when they were prompted with Dangote emerging tops.

In Kenya, Coca Cola emerged as the most admired brand while Safaricom was voted the most admired made in Kenya brand and also most admired listed company. It was also the second most admired overall, followed by Samsung.

In the banking services sector, KCB was rated top while Tusker was the clear winner in the alcoholic beverages segment. Toyota was most admired in the auto industry while Delmonte was tops in the food segment.

Bata led in the apparels segment as did Colgate in personal care, Gucci in luxury and Unilever in the consumer segment.

"In a category analysis, Kenya Airways (aviation/transport), Citizen (media), Safaricom (telecoms), Tusker (alcoholic beverages) and KCB (financial services) are the leading Made in Kenya brands in a list that’s 50 percent African (Kenya) and 50 percent non-African," the NSE said in a statement.

The Brand Africa rankings, now in their seventh year, are based on a comprehensive survey among a representative sample of respondents 18 years and older, conducted in 25 countries which collectively account for 80 percent of Africa’s population and 75 percent of the continent’s GDP.

“The key to success for building sustainable brands, irrespective of origins or domicile, is to establish an emotional connection, creating intimacy and being more present in consumers everyday lives," said Karin Du Chenne, the Kantar Chief Growth Officer Africa and Middle East. Kantar, a data company, analysed the over 15,500 brand mentions and over 2,200 individual brands to create a weighted score that produced the Top 100 brands.

The survey noted that Africa was not creating new brands while those in the market were lagging behing compared to their global counterparts.