South Africa still dominates the annual Brand Finance top 200 brands ranking, with a whopping 75% of total brand value (US$40.8 billion) and 106 of the 200 brands ranked. Nigeria has 31 brands ranked, Egypt has 19, Kenya has 12 and Morocco has 12.

MTN is still the most valuable brand in Africa – for the fourth year running. It has a value of US$4.4 billion, up 8% from 2022 and a staggering 31% from its pre-pandemic value. In second place is Vodacom, which increased its value by 16% from 2022 to US$2.3 billion. Standard Bank is ranked third (US$1,748 million), First National Bank is in fourth place (US$1,540 million) and Absa is fifth (US$1,492 million).
Next are: Woolworths SA, Spar SA, Nedbank, Investec and Mondi.

There was no movement in the first five positions from 2022: 1 – MTN; 2 – Vodacom; 3 – Standard Bank; 4 – First National Bank; 5 – Absa. However, changes were seen in the other five top ten brands: Woolworths moved up from 7 to 6; Spar SA moved up from 12 to 7; Nedbank moved up from 9 to 8; and Investec moved up from 11 to 9. Others moving up in the top 20 ranking are Distell, Checkers, Pick n Pay, Motus and Bidvest. Pick n Pay increased its brand value by 30% to ZAR13.5 billion and is one of the nine African brands that are rated AAA+, the top rating on the ten-category rating scale that starts at BBB. Woolworths is also rated AAA+ and has a value of US$1,278 million – up from R1,169 million in 2022.

Moving out of the top ten were: Multichoice down from 6 to 11; Shoprite down from 8 to 13; Sasoldown from 10 to 16. Others moving down in the top 20 ranking are Sanlam and Discovery. Other big-name South African brands in the top 100 are Bidfood Group, Old Mutual, Capitec Bank, Castel, Carling Black Label, Sappi, Mr Price, Mediclinic and Clicks.

Kenya’s Safaricom is the first non-South African brand in the listing. It comes in at number 22, down from 20 in 2022. Its brand value grew 14% to US$710 million (2022 – 2023) and it is growing its Ethiopian arm, with an estimated 10% penetration level already achieved. Kenya’s Equity Bank is the third non-South African brand. It climbed from 39 in 2022 to 28 in 2023. Other Kenyan brands included in the top 100 are Kenya Commercial Bank (45), M-pesa (65), Co-Operative Bank of Kenya (68) and Kenya Power & Lighting Ltd (84).

Morocco’s Maroc Telecom is the second non-South African brand in the ranking at 24 (down from 14 in 2022). Other Moroccan brands included in the top 100 are Attijariwafa Bank (32), Banque Populaire du Maroc (43), Inwi (64), Bank of Africa (67) and Carrefour Morocco (90).
Ethiopia’s Ethiopian Airlines moved up from 56 to 31, while Egypt’s National Bank of Egypt moved down from 32 to 33. Egypt had a number of other brands in the top 100, i.e.: Orascom Construction (38), Banque Misr (42), CIB (48), Eastern Co (54), Telecom Egypt (80), Elsewedy Electric (63), Gb Auto (74) and Afreximbank (82).

Nigeria’s first entry is Access Bank, which is up from 40 in 2022 to 35 in 2023, followed by Zenith Bank (up from 46 in 2022 to 37 in 2023). Other Nigerian brands in the top 100 are Dangote Cement (41), United Bank for Africa (46), GT Bank (48), Flour Mills Nigeria (59), First Bank of Nigeria (62), Orijin (88), 33 Export (93), Honeywell Flour Mill (99) and Bua Cement (100).

Banking is the most valuable sector. It is “up 7% in aggregate brand value” and has 28.48% of total brand value in the top 200 ranking. There are five banking brands in the top ten ranking and 42 banking brands in total in the top 200 brands list. This is followed by Telecoms (20.18% and 23 entries) and Retail (12.10% and 22 entries). The other top ten categories all reflect single-digit values and include Insurance (5.90%) and Beer (3.83%), Mining, Iron & Steel (3.70%), Food and Chemicals (3.03% each for the last
two).

The top 200 African brands showed a combined brand value growth of 6% from 2022, with a total value of US$54.4 billion.