MTN, Vodacom and Sasol have emerged as the top three most valuable brands in South Africa.

This was revealed on Tuesday when Brand South Africa and Brand Finance Africa announced the country’s top 50 corporate brands in Houghton, Johannesburg.

“In the third annual study, Brand Africa Finance found that the Top 50 corporate brands in the country are valued at approximately R1.5-trillion with many of these companies also contributing to national priorities, including uplifting identified and targeted communities,” Brand SA said.

MTN retained its leading position as the most valuable brand in South Africa, followed by Vodacom and Sasol.

The other top ten spots were snatched by Standard Bank in fourth position, FNB was in the fifth position, Woolworths was sixth, Nedbank took the number seven spot, eight was Absa, nine was Investec and tenth position was Mediclinic.

Woolworths and FNB have emerged as the top performing brands in South Africa for the 2014/15 financial year.

An analysis of the top ten corporate brands is that nine of them operate in knowledge intensive sectors – in the telecommunications, banking and oil and gas sectors.

“This suggests that South Africa must begin to make the necessary investments in our human capital development to ensure that government, working with the corporate sector, develop skilled citizens in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields to drive these sectors and move the country in its entirety towards a knowledge based economy,” Brand SA said.

Making those investments will be critical to ensuring the successful implementation of the National Development Plan as well towards the sustainability of the South African economy.

Brand South Africa and Brand Finance Africa have congratulated South Africa’s Top 50 brands.

“Your excellence in the corporate field contributes immensely to the strength and positive reputation of the South African nation brand,” Brand South Africa’s CEO Kingsley Makhubela said.