THE strains of former president Thabo Mbeki’s "I am an African" speech introduced the Brand Africa awards ceremony in Sandton last week, writes DIANNA GAMES.

The event was a celebration of Africa’s own initiatives, culture and excellence, but the results of a cellphone survey of 6,000 African consumers across the continent released that very night showed that consumers still prefer foreign brands by a wide margin.

Of the top 100 brands chosen by respondents as being either their most admired or most valued, just 23 were African. Admittedly, MTN did top the 2015 Top 100 list, toppling Coca-Cola from last year’s top place to third, after Samsung. But most of the top-ranked companies were from the US, the UK, Japan, France and other places.

In the "most admired" stakes, top choices were global brands Guinness, Dolce & Gabbana, Toyota, Nestle, L’Oreal and Samsung. The most valuable brands included Heineken, Zara, Toyota, Nestle, L’Oreal, Apple, Cadbury, Google, Coca-Cola, Nike and Vodafone.

The weighting of local to foreign brands has not grown significantly since Brand Africa introduced the awards in 2011, even though the number of countries covered has grown from eight to 22. Read more ... 

 - Published in Business Day SA, 26 October 2015. Picture: Thinkstock.