Emerging Economies, but African Lions?

The Boston Consulting Group has coined the term "African Lions", to refer to Africa's strongest economies: Algeria, Botswana, Egypt, Libya, Mauritius, Morocco, South Africa, and Tunisia. What is most stunning about the African Lions is that their average per capita GDP of $10,000 actually exceeds the combined per capita GDP of the so-called BRIC nations—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—of $8,000. While averages such as these mask many anomalies, and certainly the African Lions are far behind the BRIC nations on almost all broad indices, the number is nevertheless startling and encouraging.