African Brands Rebound to 15% — But the Podium Is Still Foreign
African brands rebounded to 15% of the continent’s 100 most-admired — their sharpest one-year recovery. But the top five stayed entirely foreign for a ninth straight year. The gap between how much Africans credit African effort and how little they admire African brands is the whole story.
Brand Africa's 16th annual Brand Africa 100 survey, released on Africa Day, delivered its sharpest single-year recovery: African brands rose to 15% of the continent's 100 most admired, up from a historic low of 11% in 2025. The study, run by founder and chairman Thebe Ikalafeng, polls consumers across 30 countries representing more than 85% of Africa's population and GDP.
The rebound comes with a hard ceiling. For the ninth consecutive year, the five most admired brands in Africa are entirely foreign — Nike, Adidas, Samsung, Apple and Coca-Cola. The highest-ranked African brand, MTN, sits at #11 and leads on spontaneous recall; Dangote leads on aided recall at #30; Ethiopian Airlines follows at #53. The gap Ikalafeng keeps naming is the one between sentiment and spend: Africans credit African countries with 80% of the effort to build a better continent, yet African brands command only 15% of its most admired names.
"Converting goodwill towards African contribution into admiration for African brands is the most urgent central commercial opportunity," Ikalafeng said. The survey also, for the first time, recognised the continent's most influential African and diaspora CMOs — a signal that Brand Africa is moving from measuring the gap to naming the people responsible for closing it.
