Twenty-five years after the term “BRIC” was coined, BRICS has evolved from an economic idea into an influential international grouping bringing together major economies across the Global South.
For Africa, this shift matters. A more multipolar world potentially gives African countries greater choice in trade, investment, development finance, technology, infrastructure and international partnerships. With South Africa, Egypt and Ethiopia as full BRICS members, Africa also has a stronger presence within the grouping.
If Africa continues exporting raw materials while importing manufactured goods, machinery and technology, the structure of African economies will not fundamentally change simply because major partners have shifted from West to East.
Africa risks changing the direction of dependency without changing the structure of dependency.
The Real Opportunity for Africa
The real opportunity presented by BRICS is therefore not simply membership or access to new sources of finance. It is the possibility of using greater global competition to negotiate partnerships that strengthen Africa’s own productive capacity.
- Do our international partnerships promote local value addition?
- Do they transfer technology and strengthen African industries?
- Do they support universities, research and innovation?
- Do they create sustainable employment for Africa’s young population?
- Do they help African countries process minerals and agricultural resources before export?
- What capabilities remain in Africa when major investment projects are completed?
Where Is the African Union in This?
This is where the African Union must become more central to the conversation. Individual African countries will naturally pursue their national interests, but Africa’s bargaining power will remain limited if engagement with BRICS, the G20 and other major economic groupings is fragmented.
The African Union should help articulate a clearer continental economic agenda around industrialisation, critical minerals, energy, technology transfer, infrastructure and value addition, linked directly to Agenda 2063 and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).
Africa should increasingly negotiate not simply as a collection of resource-rich countries seeking investment, but as a continental market seeking to build its own productive and technological capacity.
Critical Minerals and Continental Bargaining Power
This is particularly important for critical minerals. Competition for Africa’s lithium, cobalt, manganese and other strategic resources is intensifying. The question should not simply be who receives the mining concessions, but how these resources can support African processing, manufacturing, research, technology and regional value chains.
A more coordinated African Union position could strengthen the continent’s bargaining power and help prevent African countries from competing against one another for agreements that provide short-term investment but limited long-term transformation.
BRICS Is an Opportunity, Not a Development Model
Africa should neither romanticise BRICS nor view it simply as an alternative to the West. China, India, Russia, Brazil, the United States and European countries all pursue their national interests.
External partnerships can provide finance, markets, technology and knowledge. But they cannot substitute for effective institutions, accountable leadership, long-term development strategies and the domestic capacity to turn opportunities into transformation.
BRICS therefore represents an opportunity—not a development model.
The Question Africa Should Be Asking
As the global balance of economic power changes, Africa’s central question should not be whether BRICS will replace the West.
The world may be changing. Africa must ensure that it does not merely change partners, but changes its development trajectory.