African Loyalty Awards spotlight customer-centric brands
Africa’s growing focus on customer loyalty and retention has taken centre stage with the launch of the inaugural African Loyalty Awards, backed by the African Loyalty Association, which spotlight the programmes reshaping how brands across the continent connect with and retain their customers.
This is the first time the awards are being held. Source: Supplied.
The awards attracted entries from East, West, Central and Southern Africa, highlighting the brands that are truly connecting with their customers and driving meaningful business results.
With 2025/6 being the first year of these Awards, the judging chair, Amanda Cromhout, CEO and founder of Truth Loyalty and the Africa Loyalty Awards had the following to say: “I am truly honoured to chair the judging process for this prestigious celebration of loyalty excellence across the African continent.”
The prestigious African Loyalty Awards celebrate excellence in customer engagement and retention, recognising the most impactful and forward-thinking loyalty initiatives on the continent.
Award winners:
- In the retail category, Pick n Pay's Smart Shopper was crowned the Best Loyalty Programme of the Year in Africa, showing strong customer growth and incremental revenue
- In the financial services category, Absa Rewards was recognised as the Best Loyalty Programme of the Year in Africa for redefining loyalty by offering customers real cash back, not just points. Over the past two years, the programme paid out over $23 million in cash to its clients, helping families stretch their budgets while driving record engagement and customer growth.
- Best Loyalty Programme of the Year in Africa in the fuel category was won by BP Rewards, which launched its proprietary loyalty programme in 2024 and achieved a 7-percentage point market share gain in the first year. The programme has issued over $7,5 million in cashback rewards to date, providing customers with practical savings on essential daily expenses.
- Vodacom's VodaBucks Rewards Programme was recognised as the Best Loyalty Programme of the Year in Africa in the telco industry, as well as the Best Long-Term Loyalty Programme of the Year in both Southern Africa and overall, across the continent. The digital-first platform, which goes beyond traditional spend-based rewards, also won the award for Best Use of Gamification. It was the most awarded programme at the awards.
- The Best Partnership Programme of the Year in Africa was won by BP Rewards and Pick n Pay Smart Shopper, whose collaboration redefined loyalty in South Africa by launching the country's first dual fuel-grocer rewards programme.
- Xoxoday, the technology enablement layer that turns loyalty strategy into live engagement that is fast to launch, easy to optimise, and ready for enterprise scale, was named the Best Loyalty Rules Engine Technology Vendor of the Year as well as the Best Loyalty Enablement Technology Vendor of the Year.
Other notable winners included:
- Spur South Africa and Spur Africa, awarded Highly Commended and Commended consecutively, in the restaurant/QSR category
- Kenya Airways' Asante Rewards, awarded Commended in both the travel and Long-Term Programme of the Year in East Africa categories
- Awards by Access, Access Bank’s programme in Ghana awarded Commended in the newcomer category