Gauteng Business 2016 edition

SPECIAL FEATURE
Brics: the opportunities for Gauteng
Why South Africa’s smallest province stands most to gain from the country’s inclusion in
the BRICS group of countries.
One of the biggest advantages of South Africa’s relationship
with BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) is that the
country can benefit through the flow of foreign direct
investment and increased trade.
Bearing in mind that South Africa holds the key to the door
through which BRICS, especially China, wants to do business with the
rest of Africa, it has become even more important for South Africa
to take the lead in Africa’s new industrial revolution – even amidst
undertaking the huge task of radical economic transformation.
Despite mixed reactions to our inclusion in BRICS, and some
critics saying that other emerging countries with faster economic
growth than South Africa could have been included, South Africa
joined the bloc as the ‘jeweller of the world’ and as a ‘Gateway
to Africa’, offering fellow BRICS members improved access to a
very large consumer base in the African continent in addition to
mineral resources, including oil
and platinum.
Although all regions in South
Africa stand to benefit from the
BRICS partnership, the economic,
demographic and labour statistics
for Gauteng give the province
quite an advantage when it
comes to economic benefaction
in this regard.
Also counting in favour of
Gauteng is South Africa’s availability
of vast natural resources
such as gold, diamonds and platinum,
excellent infrastructure, es-
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