New “African Youth” Barometer: What Are The New Brand Opportunities And Challenges?

By LAWSON Karl

Paris, 24 May 2016 - Ipsos reveals the first part of its unprecedented study on “African Youth”. This new quarterly bulletin focuses on the values, aspirations and consumer behaviours of 15-24 year-olds in 7 African countries. Fashion, social networks, mobility, advertising, food trends: Ipsos Africap’s teams portray optimistic young Africans with high expectations, and unveils brand opportunities and challenges to come.

“African Youth”, a new Ipsos barometer to support brands on a promising market.

This Tuesday, Ipsos Africap revealed the first results of its unprecedented “African Youth” survey, conducted on 15-24 year-olds in 7 African countries*. Who are young Africans? What are their concerns? What do they consume? What influences their opinions and purchase decisions? What brands do they prefer? What brand opportunities and challenges do they represent? The barometric survey, to be conducted every three months on an evolving scope, portrays a diverse youth population, who are all better educated, more demanding and more connected than their elders.

“15-24 year-olds already play a leading role in the development of the African continent, they stimulate consumer spending, shopping mall frequentation, they aspire to education, employment, consumption, entertainment and full electricity and internet access”, explains Florence de Bigault, Director of Ipsos Africap.

With a population of 220 million 15 to 24 year-olds**, Africa has the highest concentration of young people on the planet. “The survey focuses on the multiple youth populations that represent tremendous consumer potential for new products and adoption of new behaviours and lifestyles”, comments Florence de Bigault. “The ambition of these young Africans, their energy and their confidence in the future has reached a degree of intensity that is difficult to find elsewhere”, she concludes.

* Survey conducted in 7 countries (Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Morocco, Democratic Republic of Congo, Kenya, South Africa) from 29 April to 2 May on 1816 respondents.

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**Unesco Data 2013
Key figures of the "African Youth" Ipsos survey:

 81% of young Africans are optimistic about their personal future, and 63% about the future of their country

 Their main concerns are unemployment (69%), cost of living increase (63%) and corruption (59%)

 Their 3 first expenditure items are food and beverages (43%), clothing (38%), and communication (internet and telecommunications) (33%)

 34% of urban young people regularly go to trade centres and supermarkets

 Young Africans spend an average of 2:20 hours on the internet and social networks

 22% of 15-24 year-olds report being influenced by social networks in their purchase decisions

 French brands are preferred by 49% of young Ivorians and 30% of young Senegalese, versus less than 2% of Nigerians and South Africans (the two leading African economies)

A detailed snap shot of food consumption, media consumption and the aspirations of the middle classes

Ipsos offers its clients a poll of the African continent via three key approaches: urban household food consumption, media consumption and aspirations of the middle classes.

 Afric’a’table: this survey is an observatory of current food behaviour in urban African households, enabling the identification of new food trends on the continent.

 AMPS 2016: In the face of the media boom and the competition in the French-speaking Africa sphere, Ipsos proposes a widely distributed reliable, robust, and homogenous tool on consumption and media usage in the region.

 African Trends Observer 2016: Since 2001, Ipsos has published the annual qualitative international Trend Observer survey. This survey examines the weak signals of emerging lifestyles and consumption to identify new trends. This year, the Ipsos trend radar opens up to the African continent.

Ipsos Africap, the Ipsos market research firm dedicated to supporting businesses in their development on African Markets

At the beginning of the year, Ipsos launched Africap, its new consultancy firm specialized in sub-Saharan Africa and the Maghreb region. Its objective: support its clients in their development on African markets, by providing them with the necessary information, tools and metrics to nourish their understanding of African markets and consumers.

Based in Paris, Ipsos Africap operates by collaboration between European experts and the “Ipsos African” network, composed of 800+ collaborators. Represented in 14 African countries*, for many years, Ipsos has been present in local territories, where it continues to expand its local footprint.

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*Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Ghana, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Mozambique, Angola, Côte d’Ivoire

To receive the “African Youth” report click here (in French)

To receive further information on Ipsos Africap reports, click here (in French)

About Ipsos
Ipsos ranks third in the global research industry. With a strong presence in 87 countries, Ipsos employs more than 16,000 people and has the ability to conduct research programs in more than 100 countries. Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is controlled and managed by research professionals. They have built a solid Group around a multi-specialist positioning – Media and advertising research; Marketing research; Client and employee relationship management; Opinion & social research; Mobile, Online, Offline data collection and delivery -. Ipsos has been listed on the Paris Stock Exchange since 1999.

At Ipsos we are passionately curious about people, markets, brands and society. We make our changing world easier and faster to navigate and inspire clients to make smarter decisions. We deliver with security, simplicity, speed and substance. We are Game Changers.