a Mark Magazine: Africa Dispatches feature Africa’s most-admired brands as selected by key influencers. Curated by Mandy de Waal (@mandyldewaal)
Shoprite
Africa’s largest food retailer. Operates 1525 corporate and 377 franchise outlets in 16 countries across the continent. Brands include Shoprite, Checkers, OK, Usave and Hungry Lion.
“Shoprite has done exceptionally well in Africa. One thing it has done better than most is to be relevant. Walk into one of the company’s stores in Nigeria and it feels like a Nigerian company. This is what you want it to feel like if you’re Nigerian.
“Whitey Basson has done exceptionally well because he understands local consumers in their home towns. In places like Angola, Shoprite beats local entrepreneurs at their own game. That’s something to be admired.”
– Romeo Kumalo, chief operating officer of Vodacom International.
Guinness
The Irish stout that became an African favourite
“The ongoing Sapeur campaign. This campaign brilliantly [pays] homage to the underclass in Congo whose symbol of defiance is a high-end dressing style as both personal and collective expression. But, in doing this, the brand has a moral duty to give back to this collective via an economic empowerment programme – call it CSR [corporate social responsibility] – I don’t mind. Or else it is just another clever leverage of poverty porn.”
– Babatunde Adebola, associate creative director, Noah’s Ark, Lagos, Nigeria.
Safaricom
Kenya’s leading mobile network operator.
“It is not very hard to pick Safaricom. It is a telco and it is easier to be drawn to a telco brand because of the size, advertising budget, approach and nature of the brand. Telcos can bully their way to being a brand you can’t ignore. But I like Safaricom because it is a disruptive brand. Safaricom went from being a telecommunications service to becoming a fully fledged communications company, and it went on to disrupt the local finance industry. Safaricom takes on banks and banking, and is transforming finance for the betterment of consumers. Safaricom really stands out in Kenya as a brand to admire.”
– Mark Kaigwa, one of Forbes Africa’s “30 under 30”. Founder at Nendo, a digital think tank. Creative and film maker.
GTB Bank
Nigeria’s biggest, and most profitable, bank
“It’s clear in its positioning and its brand proposition extends across all its touch points.”
– Moky Makura, publisher of Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs and South Africa’s Greatest Entrepreneurs. Founder of Nollybooks. Actress.
Toyota
The Japanese car brand renowned in Africa for its reliability and ease of maintenance.
“I spend most of my working time travelling across sub-Saharan Africa, and everywhere I go I see Toyota. It really is a brand that appears to be the most successful across the regions I frequent. You just have to drive through the congested cities on our continent to be amazed, like I am, [at] how many Toyotas there [are] on the road.”
– Ebrahim Mohamed, executive director of African operations for Kensai Plascon.
This feature first ran in Mark Magazine: Africa Dispatches — the sister print magazine of marklives.com. Sample or buy the launch issue of Mark: Africa Dispatches #1 here.
Mandy de Waal. Curious scribbler. Born-again atheist. Author on training wheels. Thought activist. Amateur human. Collector of stories. Lover of the long form. Consulting editor to MarkLives.com. Editor of Mark Magazine: Africa Dispatches.
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