David Pilling - Speaker

David Pilling is the Africa editor and a columnist at the Financial Times. He covers business, politics, and development across the continent and writes a regular column on various African topics. Previously, he served as the Asia editor and assistant editor and held roles as Tokyo bureau chief, pharmaceuticals correspondent, deputy features editor, and correspondent in Buenos Aires and Santiago.
David has authored two books: The Growth Delusion (2018), which was shortlisted for the Orwell Prize, and Bending Adversity: Japan and the Art of Survival (2016). He frequently moderates and speaks for the Financial Times and organisations such as the World Bank, OECD, and ADB. In 2023, he briefed a G7 meeting in Kamakura, Japan, on the concepts presented in The Growth Delusion.