STAVROS NICOLAOU | How to fully exploit the Brics opportunity

South African business is entering a more ambitious phase of engagement with Brics, one defined by deal-making, trade facilitation, investment mobilisation and measurable commercial outcomes. More than a decade after establishing the Brics Business Council, the years of building relationships between South African business and some of the world’s largest and fastest-growing economies are beginning to bear fruit.

South Africa’s participation in Brics has created important relationships that should form part of a broader strategy to diversify our economic partnerships. We should not have to choose between markets or regions. We should ask how major economies can expand the range of opportunities available to South African businesses and strengthen our position within global value chains.

The opportunity becomes clearer when we consider the composition of our trade. Our mineral and agricultural resources remain important assets. The opportunity is to use those strengths as a foundation for greater beneficiation, manufacturing, advanced services, innovation and technology-intensive production.

South Africa already has capabilities across automotive manufacturing, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, agriculture and agro-processing, machinery, financial services, renewable energy, digital services and critical minerals. The task is to connect these capabilities to international markets and investment partnerships while creating the conditions for South African companies to participate further up global value chains.

Our Brics engagement can create opportunities to move beyond traditional buyer-seller arrangements to co-investment, joint ventures, technology partnerships, manufacturing, research and greater integration into value chains.

Attracting investment and identifying export opportunities is only part of the equation. We also need an enabling environment so that South African companies, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), can participate in these markets.

For an SME, the difference between a market that exists in principle and one that can be accessed commercially can come down to certification requirements, sanitary and phytosanitary standards, customs processes, regulatory uncertainty, access to trade finance, procurement opportunities and the ability to make and receive cross-border payments. These are not peripheral issues. They can determine whether a business enters a market, integrates into a supply chain, or competes for a commercial opportunity.

We should position South Africa not only as a destination for Brics investment but as a platform from which international companies can build partnerships, establish production and access opportunities across Africa

This is where business matchmaking, procurement linkages, supply chain integration and trade finance become important. For Brics engagement to have a wider economic impact, we need practical pathways that enable smaller South African companies to find partners, secure contracts, enter supply chains and expand into other member markets.

The same applies to technology and innovation. Brics co-operation can support partnerships in areas such as AI, digital services, fintech, green hydrogen, pharmaceuticals and critical minerals. The opportunity is not simply to increase trade in these sectors but to develop partnerships that strengthen research, technology transfer, joint manufacturing and advanced capabilities in South Africa.

The Brics Business Council’s evolution to deal-making and trade facilitation is therefore significant. Its objective should be to connect the institutional relationships and policy dialogue built over more than a decade to specific commercial outcomes, whether through investment partnerships, new export markets, technology transfer, procurement opportunities or more integrated supply chains.

The targets emerging from the 2026 Brics Business Forum provide a useful framework for this shift, including the call to identify and address the 10 most significant trade barriers, setting a target to support 100 Brics start-ups each year to expand into other member markets and facilitating 1,000 new cross-border business partnerships.

For South African business the value of these targets will be determined by what they unlock. This is equally important when considering South Africa’s position as a gateway to Africa. The African Continental Free Trade Area provides an opportunity to connect South African production and services to a much larger continental market. We should therefore position South Africa not only as a destination for Brics investment but as a platform from which international companies can build partnerships, establish production and access opportunities across Africa.

That means attracting partners to South Africa to invest alongside local businesses, develop joint ventures, transfer technology and build capabilities that serve both domestic and continental markets. It also means ensuring that market access created through international engagement translates into opportunities for South African producers and service providers.

South Africa’s Brics presidency in 2028 provides an opportunity to shape an agenda around priorities that reflect our economic circumstances and our position within Africa and the wider Global South. That agenda should not be developed only when the presidency arrives. The work must begin now.

• Nicolaou is a member of the South African Brics Business Council