South Africa and it Southern neighbors are one of the hidden and unknown gems in the world economy. Due to its location South Africa had to develop a range of general capabilities and skills that can be found that are quite unique. It is no wonder that big multinational have been buying small brands and companies in South Africa with the focus of leveraging these brands and products onto the world stage.

South African started companies or brands can now be found as part of big international portfolio and leverage into great investments of it owners.

Here as some companies and brands that were recently bought

Dutch brewer Heineken (HEIN.AS) purchased and will take control of South Africa's Distell Group Holdings (DGHJ.J) and Namibia Breweries Ltd (NBS.NM) to form a southern Africa drinks group worth 4 billion euros ($4.6 billion).

U.S. food and beverage giant PepsiCo acquired South Africa-based company, Pioneer Foods, for approximately $1.7 billion in 2019. Their comment was "Pioneer Foods forms an important part of our strategy to not only expand in South Africa, but further into Sub-Saharan Africa as well. Our businesses are highly complementary, and we look forward to working with the Pioneer Foods team to successfully build and implement a shared vision in the region.”

Sasol is a global chemicals and energy company that started in South Africa. It was the first company in the world to commercially convert coal to fuel. Sasol’s Southwest Louisiana employees manufacture chemicals used in the production of cleaning, personal care, pharmaceutical and automotive products at its Lake Charles Chemical Complex near Westlake, Louisiana.

South African Breweries started in South Africa and in 2016 SABMiller was the third biggest brewer in the world before it was acquired by Anheuser-Busch InBev.

Many US and European companies see South Africa as the beachhead to get a brand footprint in the Southern Africa market.

Elon Musk, now the wealthiest person in the world grew up in South Africa. South Africa has the environment to build and develop great products and export it to the rest of the world