African brands have rebounded to a 15% share of the Top 100 Brand Africa/Africa’s Best Brands rankings – recovering from a historic low of 11% last year – with MTN and Dangote leading the continent’s pack.
Brand Africa’s 16th annual ranking list is considered to be among the most comprehensive consumer-led survey of brands in Africa, covering 30 countries that represent more than 85% of its population and GDP.
For the 16th consecutive year, Africans rank non-African brands as the most admired brands in Africa. Yet the headline of 2026 is one of resurgence: African brands have rebounded to 15% of the Top 100, recovering from a historic low of 11% in 2025 and ahead of the 14% recorded in 2024 – the sharpest single-year recovery the survey has recorded and set against a year in which the continent took centre stage globally.
For the ninth consecutive year, the five most admired brands in Africa are all foreign: Nike, Adidas, Samsung, Apple, and Coca-Cola. Not a single African brand appears in the Top 10. MTN, the continent’s highest-ranked homegrown brand for over a decade, sits at number 11, a one-place slip from number 10 in 2025.
South African streetwear labels with no pan-African media investment, GALXBOY and Redbat, join Maxhosa and Bathu in the Top 100 on organic consumer recall alone. Shoprite/Checkers rises 24 places in spontaneous recall. Maxhosa holds number three across three generational cohorts. In 16 years of rankings, relatively little change has happened at the top.
Recognising that 80% of Africans believe in Africa, but that only 15% buy Africa, Thebe Ikalafeng, founder and chairman of Brand Africa, says: “Converting goodwill towards African contribution into admiration for African brands is the most urgent central commercial opportunity for the continent. It is not enough for Africans to believe in Africa, they must buy Made-in-Africa.”
Dr Mama Keita, deputy executive secretary – Programme Support, United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, adds: “Africa’s image is Africa’s brand. And Africa’s brand is Africa’s economy. The point gap between belief in Africa and buying African brands is not simply a branding problem – it is a development challenge. It represents lost opportunities for intra-African trade, unrealised industrialisation, forgone jobs, weakened value chains, and constrained competitiveness.
“It will not close through optimism alone,” Dr Keita adds. “It will close through deliberate policy, investment in quality and innovation, stronger regional value chains, and institutions willing to work together across sectors and borders.”
Highlights from the survey include:
- Nike retains number one overall for the ninth consecutive year, leading the Top 100, the Sports & Fitness category, and the non-African sustainability ranking.
- MTN (spontaneous recall) and Dangote (aided recall) are the most admired African brands; MTN is number one for doing good for society and the environment.
- Dangote is the number one African brand contributing to a better Africa.
- Dangote is the most admired Industrial brand, a new category recognising multi-sector African champions, ahead of Trade Kings (Zambia) and Azam (Tanzania).
- MTN (#11), Dangote (#30) and Ethiopian Airlines (#53) remain the continent’s benchmarks of excellence across the Top 100.
- Regional origin of the Top 100: Europe 38%, North America 28%, Asia 19%, Africa 15%.
- Largest country contributors: US (28), France (9), China (9), South Africa (8), Germany (7).
- South Africa is the number one country contributing to a better Africa; eight of the top 10 such countries are African.
- Top categories: Electronics/Computers (16%), Luxury (13%), Auto-Manufacturers (11%), Consumer non-cyclical (9%). Apparel doubled from 4% to 8%, the single largest gain.
- China’s footprint deepens with nine brands, rivalling single-country European totals and entrenching its lead in electronics and e-commerce.
- Standard Bank is the number one financial services brand; financial services is overwhelmingly African – with 22 of the Top 25 from the continent.
- BBC is the number one media brand for the second consecutive year; DStv is the leading African media brand, though it slips to number 54 overall following its acquisition by France’s Canal+.
- The African loyalty paradox persists: Africans credit African countries with 80% of the effort to build a better continent, yet African brands command only 15% of the most admired brands.