Aliko Dangote received a Lifetime Achievement Award for championing impactful industrialisation, building a world-class African brand, and transforming the continent’s economic future through a benchmark homegrown enterprise, as Kenya’s M-Pesa brand was inducted into the inaugural Brand Africa Hall of Fame for consistently ranking among Africa’s most admired brands over the past 5 to 15 years and building sustainable, world-class brands

Besides Dangote and M-Pesa, other brands included in the Hall of Fame are MTN, Ethiopian Airlines, and Brand South Africa. Brand Africa, in partnership with African Business and the Economic Commission for Africa, today unveiled the results of the 15th annual Brand Africa 100 | Africa’s Best Brands rankings. The announcement was made at the historic Africa Hall in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia — the birthplace of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), now the African Union (AU).

The 2025 rankings reveal a stark disconnect between rising African optimism and declining brand loyalty. While 68% of Africans express belief in Africa, up from 64% in 2024, only 11% of the Top 100 most admired brands are African – a historic low, down from 14% in 2024. This drop underscores the urgent challenge for homegrown brands to convert belief into consumer commitment, and Africans to support Made in Africa brands.

The rankings are based on a comprehensive pan-African survey conducted across 31 countries and in 8 languages, from Arabic to Swahili – representing over 85% of the continent’s population and GDP.

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The research reflects a changing brand landscape driven by Africa’s youthful population, expanding cultural influence, and growing geopolitical engagement with global blocs such as the G20 and BRICS+.

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“It is disappointing to see the sharp drop in African brands, which mirrors the ranking of non-African nations as the most influential in Africa,” says Thebe Ikalafeng, Founder and Chairman of Brand Africa. “It’s a wake-up call for Africa—and a barometer of the continent’s lagging industrialisation agenda. It’s not enough for Africans to say they believe in the continent—they must buy made-in-Africa. For that to happen, African brands must invest in R&D, continue to innovate, deliver quality, and use authenticity as a differentiator.”

In his keynote, Mr. Claver Gatete, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, praised the Hall of Fame inductees and Brand Africa laureates for advancing the African agenda. He endorsed Brand Africa, stating it aligns with the ECA’s mission to promote inclusive industrialisation, regional integration, and private sector-led growth. He called for investment in youth-driven innovation, regional value chains, and the creation of a Pan-African creative innovation fund to identify, finance, and globalise Africa’s most promising brands.

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Following the global launch, Brand Africa will embark on a multi-country roadshow to share insights and rankings across all regions of the continent in supporting its mission to drive a brand-led African agenda.

What distinguishes the Brand Africa 100: Africa’s Best Brands study is that since its inception in 2011 (1) it has grown to be the most comprehensive barometer of consumer brand preferences spanning 31 African countries which collectively account for more than 85% of the continent’s population and GDP; (2) it is research-based rankings; (3) conducted by independent and globally respected research partners, including Geopoll and Kantar, as the lead, supported by Integrate (Morocco), Gopinion (Algeria), Analysis (Mauritius) and Oxygen (Namibia), and (5) is brand-neutral because the study is unsponsored ensuring there is no commercial influence.