MTN, DSTV, others emerge winners at Brand Africa award

MTN and DSTV were among 100 companies that bagged outstanding awards at the 2022 edition of the Brand Africa Award ceremony on Wednesday.

Brand Africa is a non-profit intergenerational organisation that inspires a brand-led African renaissance to transform the continent’s image, by driving Africa’s competitiveness, connecting Africa, and creating positive image of the continent.

The ceremony which had the theme, “Building Powerful and Resilient Brands in Africa”, held at Eko Hotels and Suites, Victoria Island, Lagos.

The News Agency of Nigeria reports that MTN won in the most admired African brand category, while DSTV won in the most admired media brand category.

BBC and CNN got second and third position respectively in the most admired media brand category.

Guarantee Trust Bank (GTB) won first position for the most admired finance brand in Africa generally, while Eco Bank and Equity Bank bagged the second and third position respectively.

In the most admired brand that symbolises African pride category, Dangote emerged first, Ethiopia won second position, while MTN placed third.

For the Leading brands in West Africa, Samsung, Nikki and Cocacola won first, second and third positions respectively.

Still for West Africa, GTB placed first for the most admired brand in finance, while United Bank of Africa (UBA) and Eco Bank came second third respectively.

Dangote took first for the most admired brand in West Africa that symbolises Africa pride, MTN came second while DSTV got third position.

For the leading brands in Nigeria, the top three brands were Cocacola, MTN and Apple; the most admired African brands in Nigeria were Dangote, MTN and Innoson.

DSTV got first position for the most admired media brand in Nigeria, CNN came second while Channels Television emerged third.

The most admired finance brand in Nigeria went to GTB, First bank and Access bank, while for the most admired brand in Nigeria that symbolises African pride, Dangote came first, MTN second position and DSTV third.

Mr Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder, Brand Africa, during the award presentation, said that the essence of the awards was to encourage Africans to use local products as it would encourage and boost Africa’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

“Africa consumes 83 per cent of western products and 17 per cent of African products, which is not encouraging enough.

“We continue to reject things made by Africans, this is not good, we must work together to grow African products through the world,” he said.

Earlier, Mr Thekiso Rakolojane, Regional Head, West Africa, South African Tourism, expressed optimism that as soon as tourism and hospitality category was included in the awards, South Africa would be recipient of such awards.

Rakolojane urged Nigerians and Africans generally to visit South Africa, known for its interesting safari, classic African scenery, golden savannah, hauntingly beautiful deserts, great gaping gorges and more.