FT Africa Editor. One of Time’s 7.7bn most important people. Author: The Growth Delusion; Bending Adversity. Asia & Africa 'expert'. Speaker
Joined September 2009
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1,877 Photos and videos
Pinned Tweet
21 Jun 2018
Rwanda, by making its own clothes, is doing what we pretend we want of poor nations: to wean themselves off charity
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Jun 13
Football is a dance in space — expanding it when you have the ball, shrinking it when you don’t - from the wonderful @KuperSimon ft.com/content/1e62563f-1b89… via @ft
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May 22
🤬 Donald Trump reboots foreign aid with new ‘America First’ strategy. After gutting USAID, Washington is striking transactional money-for-data deals that some critics liken to ‘recolonisation’. By @davidpilling #PayWall ft.com/content/f5e1335c-40d1… via @ft
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May 22
.@AfricaUrbanLab Senior Fellow, @JoeStudwell, talks to @SoumayaKeynes on the @FT’s The Economics Show about his book How Africa Works 🌆🌆
May 22
Can African countries mimic Asia’s economic success? With Joe Studwell ift.tt/3hfmPWJ
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What a writer he is. And what a strange exile story. Outsider Everywhere — Witold Gombrowicz’s exile in Argentina ft.com/content/425d65a8-1d88… via @ft
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May 15
Hard to get away from Elon. This is in the Mahama refugee camp on the Rwanda-Tanzania border
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david pilling retweeted
I’m trying to explain to a foreigner in Arabic what happened with Phala Phala. They are floored. On Christmas Day in 2019, a Sudanese tourists was visiting South Africa and casually wanted to buy a buffalo. He then pays $580 000 cash. That money gets put under a couch.
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david pilling retweeted
May 10
That’s quite a good citation when you come to think of it
May 10
Nigerian billionaire Aliko Dangote is looking at Kenya as the site of a 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery that he intends to build in East Africa, the Financial Times reported on Sunday, citing an interview with him. reuters.com/world/africa/afr…
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May 10
NIGERIAN BILLIONAIRE Aliko Dangote considers Kenya as the site for 650,000-barrel-a-day oil refinery he intends to build in East Africa, Financial Times reports, citing an interview with him.
zurl.co/7WkNT
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Africa’s richest man eyes Kenya for new refinery ft.trib.al/XaoDmyf
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May 10
Dangote seems to be calling Samia's bluff: Africa’s richest man eyes Kenya for new refinery ft.com/content/ecabee35-a16f… via @ft
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david pilling retweeted
Great scoop by @ak_mna and @davidpilling
Africa’s richest man Aliko Dangote plans London listing of cement empire. He’s hired Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Standard Bank for the IPO, said people briefed about the matter
ft.com/content/966d1c99-dd70… via @ft
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Inside the Outsider: what Camus’ letters tell you about how he loved and who he loved (not Hemingway apparently) - Mon Cher Amour — Camus, Maria Casarès and a love story in letters via @FT
as.ft.com/r/309a4a1b-c4d6-4f…
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david pilling retweeted
Apr 24
Because international aid-related stuff is so visible in the media, many people in high-income countries think foreign aid takes up 20% of GDP (when it’s actually <0.3% in most cases). Maybe the messaging from advocacy groups should be more about how the aid sector achieves so much with so little. @davidpilling @FT
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26 Aug 2025
Very chuffed to get my hands on a copy of my book World Cup Fever - a story of the tournament told through my own nine World Cups. It's out in English and Dutch in early October, but you can already preorder it, e.g. here waterstones.com/book/world-c…
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"Ism, ism, ism, ism, until we sounded like buzzing flies". Ha !! I have to get this book 🙏🙏
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This book is well worth your time: Chasing Freedom — Simukai Chigudu on the trail of Rhodes and Mugabe ft.com/content/b5f16b32-ca4b… via @ft
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My good friend and @FT partner in crime in #Taiwan @KathrinHille has retired. She had an amazing career reporting over the years from Taipei, Beijing & Moscow. Huge thanks to her for being an amazing teammate!
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