Give us a Bric

Brics is an acronym for the powerful grouping of the world’s leading emerging economies, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, says the official Brics website.

Much ink has been spilt on South Africa's dubious candidacy as a Bric nation - even the creator of the term Jim O’Neill of Goldman fame was flummoxed by the inclusion of South Africa.

If you take a look at the numbers in the interactive bar chart above which tracks the forecasted gross domestic product (GDP) of the five nations over the next four decades, you will see it's a no-brainer that SA is completely outclassed currently and grows increasingly irrelevant as we move towards the middle of this century.

This graphic - while highlighting South Africa’s economic puniness relative to India and China - belies the strategic value SA plays as a conduit to accessing the "country" traditionally referred to by Wall Street dwellers as "Africa".

Now, you may scoff at the absent worldliness of institutional investors in financial hubs far from the madding continent, but this institutional ignorance presents an epic opportunity.

What's in a name?

The original Bric acronym came out of a need for investors to group emerging economies.

Portfolio mangers, despite their sophisticated algorithms, have a strong leaning towards east to remember acronyms which is probably why MIKT - an acronym referring to the emerging economies of Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Turkey, also created by Jim O’Neill - just never made for a sexy sequel to the Brics.

Academics will debate how and why these four nations were included and others excluded: questions - like why was Mexico omitted and Russia included - will remain.

Undoubtedly there are reams of data supporting such decisions, but in all likelihood the term Bric sounded cool and made sense at the time; BMIC or BIC just lack sophistication.

So as the axis of power continued to migrate from west to east, so did the significance of propelling this motion.

Africa has a significant role to play in this propulsion primarily in its function as a supplier of raw materials to China, but increasingly as a destination for consumer goods as the Dark Continent brightens up.

Once the Bric alliance mutated into a political club, it made for a natural evolution to include an African player in its ranks.

While several potential partners could have been chosen such as Nigeria or Kenya, they both suffered from the first letter in their names being unpleasant consonants. Since the Brics were already referred to in the plural, including a fifth wheel with an “s” made perfect sense.

Such historic flukes aside, how can South Africa capitalise on its good fortune?

I would like to position this as an opportunity for SA to punch above its weight for a change.

We've grown accustomed to the nation being belittled for its weak institutions and neuron light leadership.

But this is an opportunity for SA to take advantage of its geographic lottery winnings.

Just like Hong Kong is what it is today in the merit of its proximity to China, South Africa would be remiss in not capitalising on this bout of uncharacteristically good luck in being the launch pad into sub-Saharan Africa.

John Bradford coined the expression “There but for the grace of God, go I”, which is a recognition that others' misfortune could be one's own, if it weren't for the luck bestowed by fate.

We are witness to the inverse of this, with South Africa being included in the Brics alliance.

So how do we take advantage of this?

Difficult as it often seems, South Africa actually has the ability to rise to the occasion – we were all pleasantly surprised when we hosted the Fifa World Cup in 2010.

All those incompetent metro police with a fetish for the colonel's fried chicken miraculously made themselves useful and the country worked.

SA has many times upped its game to stage such events - the problem, it seems, is sustaining such competence.

Many of us felt we were living the lyrics of Paul Simon’s song, “These are the days of miracle and wonder”- 'twas indeed the same country which is perennially the continent's underachiever that mustered up the spirits to deliver.

So if we can get our act together for a bunch of hooligans to watch a bunch of hooligans kick around a pigskin, surely we can get our act together to leverage the greatest bounty of wealth the world has known since investors discovered China?

Granted, we have also been graced with a large population with an absent work ethic brimming with a sense of entitlement, stemming from no apparent source. But we also have the potential to deliver, and we need to tap into that ability.

As any trust fund millionaire knows, life isn't fair and hard work doesn't necessarily lead to commensurate rewards.

Fortunately this phenomenon has the upside that unfair advantages are conferred on non-merit based factors, and SA is the lucky beneficiary of such divine favour.

So we as  country have a challenge before us, carrying on business as usual - and it looks like we are heading for an own goal.

But by grabbing opportunities like this Brics group with both hands and developing the rich opportunities which lie in such endeavours, South Africa can begin to turn the corner on economic malaise.

We don't get them often, and we generally squander them when we do.

But come on fellow countrymen, don't lend me your ears, we already have enough passive listeners - lend me your voices and let’s work on converting this free kick into a home victory.

It is after all the season of miracles…

 - Fin24

*Jarred Myers is a resources strategist and can be followed on Twitter on @JarredMyers. Opinions expressed are his own.