Glo emerges one of Africa's 6 most admired brands

National telecoms carrier, Globacom  has been named one of the six most admired brands in Africa.  This is the outcome of a continental survey conducted by African Business, one of the world's most authoritative magazines on African business.

The report was published in the latest edition of the London-based magazine. It said Globacom polled a total Admiration Score of 345, pushing it up on the scale as one of  the six most valued brands on the continent ahead of many multinationals.  Indeed, it is the only company in the topmost ladder that has its root in Nigeria. 

A statement released by the organizers of the annual brand rankings added that the results were arrived at after a rigorous, comprehensive exercise. The statement signed by Rupert Kemp, Valuation Director, Brand Finance Africa, and Karin Du Chenne of TNS, the magazine’s partners on the project, said the process integrated consumer research and financial valuation.

According to the magazine, “In the research phase, Brand Africa’s partner, TNS Global, the world’s largest information research firm, in partnership with Geopoll, the leading mobile survey platform with a database of nearly 200 million users in emerging markets, set out to identify the most admired local and global brands in Africa.”

They further explained that a representative sample of eight countries, covering the major Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) regions were selected for the survey. These included Ghana, and Nigeria for West Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda for East Africa, DR Congo for Central Africa, and Mozambique and South Africa for Southern Africa.“Collectively, these countries represent 51 percent (477 million) of Sub-Saharan Africa population and 67 percent ($1.065 trillion) of Africa’s GDP…Using Geopoll’s sophisticated mobile SMS technology for data collection, individuals aged 18 and older in these countries  were asked to rank their top three ‘most admired global or local brands’ in order of first to third,” the organizers said.

According to the Magazine, the process yielded 8,600 brand mentions, representing over 2,800 brands as each responder provided a list of three brands each.

Subsequent analysis of the coded data and calculation of the scores of each brand by TNS provided the list of the top 100 most admired brands in Africa.

A closer look at  the table indicated that Globacom outperformed hundreds of older brands across many sectors of the economy in the continent.

Globacom bagged several awards from various local and international bodies in 2014 on account of its revolutionary and innovative products and services. It was named one of the ten Most Admired brands in Nigeria at the BusinessDay Nigeria’s Top 100 Most Respected Companies Awards event. Earlier last year, Glo was similarly ranked amongst the Top Five Most Valuable Brands in Africa by the continent’s high profile publication, Brand Africa.  

The company has, since 2003 when it rolled out, led the telecoms industry in the introduction of  consumer-focused innovative products and services, making it possible for Globacom to record many firsts in the telecoms industry. The operator introduced several technological innovations like per second billing, GPRS, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), 3G Plus, Blackberry service, Vehicle Tracking, Mobile Banking, Mobile Internet and Magic Plus, among others.

The network has equally  contributed to the economic growth of sub-Saharan Africa by providing gainful employment for thousands of people and by its active support and promotion of such sectors as entertainment and sports in all the countries it operates in. It has also provided a solution to the internet bandwidth problem in West Africa through its multi-million dollar international submarine cable, Glo 1.  

While it currently retains, as brand ambassadors, the largest number of key players in the entertainment and sport sectors than any other company in the sub region, Globacom as a respected continental and global brand, is the official integrated telecom partner of Manchester United in Nigeria, Ghana and Benin Republic. It is also the title sponsor of the annual Glo-CAF Awards, the official telecoms partner of Nigerian Football Federation and Major Sponsor of the Nigerian National Teams. Globacom is equally the Title Sponsor of the Nigerian Premier League, the Broadcast Sponsor of the English Premier League on DSTV and the sponsor of African Voices on CNN.

These achievements among others  have endeared the brand to people in West Africa in particular and Africa in general.