Rwenzori Water named top brand in Uganda
Mineral water bottles pass through a production line at the factory in Namanve. FILE PHOTO.
What you need to know:
Criteria to top. The firm came top based on quality, reliability and distinction.
Kampala. Rwenzori Mineral Water has been named Uganda’s top brand, according to the latest rankings released by Superbrands East Africa on Tuesday.
The bi-annual results survey was taken from a sample size of 1,000 respondents from Jinja, Kampala and Mbarara.
According to Mr Jawad Jaffer, the Superbrands East Africa project director, there were at least 400 brands in Uganda and Rwenzori came top based on quality, reliability and distinction.
“It is good to see that at least half of the brands that were among the top 20 remained competitive to again feature in the recent results,” he added.
The 2015/16 rankings are dominated by multinational companies, subsidiaries and associate companies, especially in the top 10.
Mr Jawad notes that for more local companies to be awarded Superbrand status, they need to conduct consumer research. He said there is “shyness” around local brands putting themselves out there to be seen.
“Local companies need to conduct research by going out to customers and ask them what they want from their products,” he added. He also emphasised that getting recognised as a top brand is good for a companies’ reputation.
Rwenzori, owned by SAB Miller, is followed by Sadolin Paints, MTN Uganda, Nakumatt, Fresh Dairy and MTN Mobile Money, to crown the top six brands respectively. Manufacturing dominated the top 20 brands, with at least six companies from that sector.
Sadolin Paints and Fresh Dairy saw the biggest move of the 2015/16 awards as they jumped from not being in the top 20 to the ranks of second and fifth positions, respectively.
According to Christine Mueni of TNS RMS, the company that conducted the research, to be a super brand, companies must have established a good reputation, competitive and comparative advantage and consumer satisfaction.
This, according to Ms Mueni, explains why MTN as a brand, is separate from the MTN Mobile Money because of the different customer satisfaction offered by both. “We also noticed some other trends in our research. We recognised that consumers are becoming more cautious about their health and what they consume,” she said.
UGANDA’S TOP BRANDS
The top 10 Brands
1. Rwenzori Mineral Water
2. Sadolin Paints
3. MTN Uganda
4. Nakumatt
5. Fresh Dairy
6. MTN Mobile Money
7. NTV Uganda
8. Serena Hotels and Resorts
9.Panadol
10. Coca-Cola
