This year’s B20 has given manufacturing a special prominence that previous B20s had not done, B20 South Africa head of secretariat Anthony Costa said at the Manufacturing Indaba, in Sandton, on July 15.

“The reason why we wanted . . . South Africa to lead it, is it represents global supply chains. It talks to many of the challenges we face being part of the global automotive manufacturing sector.

“You have second-, third-, fourth-tier suppliers, you have government policy, you have taxes, you now, as we are seeing, have tariffs as well. So they're really at the heart of what we are trying to engage with as business globally,” he said.

He explained that B20 South Africa was created by Business Unity South Africa (Busa) to curate the G20’s business engagement process, one of several engagement groups that represented different stakeholder sectors in society.

The B20 is one of the most established and well-resourced of these groups.

“Many people think the G20 is just the leaders’ summit in November. That’s a key moment, taking place on November 22 and 23, but the process is far broader. Government has been holding working meetings with G20 counterparts since December.

“Likewise, the B20 is a year-long process culminating in our own B20 Summit, to be held on November 18 to 20 at [the Sandton Convention Centre],” Costa stated.

B20 South Africa’s theme of ‘Inclusive Growth and Prosperity Through Global Cooperation’ is aligned with the broader G20 agenda, but deliberately avoids language that could conflict with local regulatory concerns, such as the term “solidarity”.

The B20’s work was centred on four pillars: unlocking inclusive growth, investing in human capital, driving industry reform for resilience and empowering women and small and medium-sized enterprises in supply chains, Costa explained.

Eight task forces have been established, each covering a major economic issue and tasked with developing policy recommendations to submit to the G20.

While six of these are standard, the remaining two reflect Global South priorities, retaining Brazil’s agriculture and food systems focus, and adding a new Industrial Transformation and Innovation task force under South Africa’s presidency.

“We added an eighth task force which speaks to supply chain diversification, manufacturing, beneficiation and job creation, particularly in Africa,” Costa said.

Each task force is chaired by a South African or African business leader, with global co-chairs and about 250 virtual participants in each group.

Toyota South Africa CEO Andrew Kirby leads the industrial transformation task force.

To ensure broad international representation, local participation was capped at one-third. Recommendations developed by the task forces will be released in August or September, based on input from all G20 regions, including Asia, North America, Europe and the rest of Africa.

“This is not a South African process. South Africa is merely the host, offering a platform for global business,” Costa said.

As the policy papers near completion, B20 South Africa is engaging stakeholders to ensure its messages are widely heard before the handover to the US later this year. Costa acknowledged speculation over the level of US engagement, but said geopolitical tensions had not disrupted the B20 process.

“More importantly, South Africa has tried to run both the G20 and B20 processes in an inclusive and sustainable way, without unnecessary compromises,” Costa stated.

He outlined the G20’s dual structure: the finance track, focused on macroeconomic coordination, and the sherpa track, which deals with broader policy. Costa serves as “sous-Sherpa” under B20 Sherpa Cas Coovadia, former Busa CEO.

Key themes emerging from the B20 discussions include infrastructure development, especially in Africa; access to capital; and the revitalisation of public-private partnerships.

“We’ve had very good cooperation between public and private sectors, especially in recent years, addressing crises on electricity and logistics,” Costa said.

Climate change remains a central concern despite shifting political priorities. Costa urged not just talk but implementation of real, climate-responsive economic systems, noting the implications for tariffs and trade barriers.

Unlocking Africa’s critical minerals value chain, digital transformation, and future workforce development also feature prominently. Costa emphasised Africa’s demographic shift and manufacturing’s role in meeting the challenge.

“By 2050, Africa will add around 800-million people to its workforce. We may not know what the world will look like in 25 years, but we know we must prepare. Manufacturing offers a proven path to sustainable growth,” Costa stated.

However, he stressed that this must be advanced manufacturing, aligned with digital technologies, clean energy, and global industry standards. Outdated technologies, he warned, would face penalties under new global trade mechanisms.

Costa highlighted new supply chain trends, such as "reshoring" and “friend-shoring”, as opportunities for Africa to become a key node in diversified global production networks.

“This is the opportunity, the potential, for moving some of those supply chains to Africa, because of the skills, the access to resources, as well as the opportunity in the local market presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area,” Costa said.

A final and urgent concern raised was the unpredictability in global trade policy. Costa said while businesses respected governments’ right to enact protective tariffs, the lack of predictability undermined investment.

“If there’s no predictability, as you well know, it’s impossible to plan. And if you cannot plan, you cannot make capital investments. So what happens is things simply stop growing,” Costa stated.

He called for a reformed, but rules-based and predictable, international trading order, noting that unilateral actions were causing significant disruption to global business.

Looking ahead, Costa said South Africa’s hosting of the B20 was an opportunity not to promote narrow national interests but to spotlight Africa’s global potential, and South Africa’s role in helping shape a more resilient, equitable trade system.

“Africa’s growth is a global opportunity, not an African opportunity. And in the same way as it’s a global opportunity, it’s even more so a South African opportunity.

“We will have had attention, focus, energy and the opportunity to engage with a global audience, a political and business global audience. So I think that is really the opportunity of this process in the short term.

“In the long term, it’s about the changing environment. What do we do to prepare for it and to respond to it? And I think that’s an amazing opportunity,” Costa stated.