Our People
![Greg Mills](/uploads/e7dfa8a5-0ea2-48a8-affe-85b9089c1533.jpg)
Greg Mills
Director, The Brenthurst Foundation
Dr Greg Mills heads the Johannesburg-based Brenthurst Foundation, established in 2005 by the Oppenheimer family to strengthen African economic performance.
He holds degrees from the Universities of Cape Town (BA Hons) and Lancaster (MA cum laude, and PhD), and was, first, the Director of Studies and then the National Director of the SA Institute of International Affairs from 1994-2005.
With Brenthurst he has directed numerous reform projects with African heads of state, including Rwanda (2007-8), Mozambique (2005-11), Swaziland (2010-11), Malawi (2012-14, and again 2020/1), Kenya (2012 and 2020), Lesotho (2008;2019-20), Liberia (2006/7), Zambia (2010; 2016), Zimbabwe (2009-13), Ghana (2017), Ethiopia (2019- 20), Nigeria (2017-18), and almost continuously at various levels of government in South Africa from the Foundation’s outset.
He also sat on the Danish Africa Commission and on the African Development Bank’s high-level panel on fragile states, and served four deployments to Afghanistan with the British Army as the adviser to the commander. He has also worked extensively in Colombia, and with a variety of African governments in both improving the conditions for peacebuilding and investment, including through the Zambezi Protocol on the natural resource sector.
A member of the advisory board of the Royal United Services Institute, he is the author of the best- selling books Why Africa Is Poor and Africa’s Third Liberation, and together with President Olusegun Obasanjo Making Africa Work: A Handbook for Economic Success. In 2018 he completed a second stint as a visiting fellow at Cambridge University, in producing a book on the state of African democracy, which was published as Democracy Works in 2019. The Asian Aspiration: Why and How Africa Should Emulate Asia (again with President Obasanjo and former Ethiopian Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn) followed in 2020, which identifies the relevant lessons from Asia’s development and growth story. His writings won him the Recht Malan Prize for Non-Fiction Work in South Africa.
His latest books – Expensive Poverty – which details the failings of aid, and suggests several ways to improve development outcomes, was published by Pan Macmillan in October 2021; while The Ledger: Accounting for Failure in Afghanistan was published by Hurst/Oxford University Press at the start of 2022. An edited compendium on Better Choices for the South African economy was also published by Pan Macmillan in March 2022, another on Populism in August 2022; and a volume on South African scenarios The Good, the Bad and the Ugly in August 2023.
His latest book is Rich State, Poor State: Why Some States Succeed and Others Fail, published by Penguin Random House in September 2023. His current research encompasses understanding the means by which outsiders can best assist African governments in meeting contemporary security challenges.
He was appointed to the Advisory Panel of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 2022.
His leisure interests include cycling and motorsport. A grandson of the pre-war Grand Prix driver Billy Mills, he has received his national colours for motorsport, and provincial colours for rowing and motorsport. In 2019, he headed the first South African team to participate at Le Mans, in the Road to Le Mans, driving a Bentley GT3, and was appointed as the President of the Western Province Motor Club the same year. He has served as a board member of Motorsport SA, and is a member of the FIA’s Historic Commission.
He has written eight books on Southern African motorsport for various charities, the last being Saloons, Bars and Boykies: Southern African Motorsport Heroes.
He is married to the artist, teacher and SA-representative rower Janet Wilson and they have three (very!) strong-willed children: Amelia (22), Beatrix (19) and William (17).
![World map](/uploads/cfe76175-6824-438e-ae09-10c50e51cfb0.jpg)
Content by Greg Mills
![Ten Years of Change in Three Months](/uploads/e0867af2-be56-4e77-a800-88a992db40b5.jpg)
NEWS
Ten Years of Change in Three Months
Ray Hartley, Greg Mills
22 Jul 2020
![Don't scrap the army - fix it](/uploads/13a06ff8-a36b-4bba-be5d-d00d6e626ade.jpg)
NEWS
Don't scrap the army - fix it
Greg Mills
22 Jul 2020
![Why Africa must become the Conservation Continent](/uploads/54f34d80-c251-4b71-bad7-89baf747f348.jpg)
NEWS
Why Africa must become the Conservation Continent
Greg Mills, Hailemariam Desalegn
22 Jul 2020
![The Conservation Continent: Positioning Africa for a Post-Covid Lifestyle Shift](/uploads/a04fa438-ca55-4614-b30a-a5d89cd6c461.png)
PUBLICATIONS
The Conservation Continent: Positioning Africa for a Post-Covid Lifestyle Shift
Greg Mills, Hailemariam Desalegn, Mike du Toit
21 Jul 2020
![Watch the Webinar: The Economic Costs of South Africa's Lockdown](/uploads/ed4f47dc-cc5f-432b-a941-c904a88f01ab.png)
EVENTS
Watch the Webinar: The Economic Costs of South Africa's Lockdown
with Greg Mills
![Malawi: Will they come or will they go?](/uploads/4829f482-25a1-480e-84be-bc8d2acdc717.jpg)
NEWS
Malawi: Will they come or will they go?
Greg Mills, Ray Hartley
3 Jul 2020
![It's time that Ramaphosa owned the wasted 26 years](/uploads/45d6dbbf-bf05-45d9-ad95-0065b6c17b87.jpg)
NEWS
It's time that Ramaphosa owned the wasted 26 years
Greg Mills, Ray Hartley
28 Jun 2020
![Malawi's remarkable election — and fresh opportunity](/uploads/8260f7ea-5fe9-46df-8834-8ef6925f4bec.jpg)
NEWS
Malawi's remarkable election — and fresh opportunity
Ray Hartley, Greg Mills
26 Jun 2020
![Interview with Dr Lazarus Chakwera](/uploads/c6ba36eb-78c4-434c-b125-e3e9ac6c5399.jpg)
VIDEOS
Interview with Dr Lazarus Chakwera
Greg Mills
25 Jun 2020
![Africa In Perspective - RUSI Webinar](/uploads/3ceca8b3-3fc4-41e9-b09b-68b4dfeeb8f6.jpg)
EVENTS
Africa In Perspective - RUSI Webinar
with Olusegun Obasanjo, Greg Mills
![Why we must open air travel - Dr Greg Mills on CapeTalk](/uploads/d2d28ba4-a630-4923-a410-6540b7abcc34.jpg)
NEWS
Why we must open air travel - Dr Greg Mills on CapeTalk
Greg Mills
22 Jun 2020
![Identifying one quick win for the government](/uploads/b18d0132-492c-4730-aaad-a60b2351107f.jpg)
NEWS
Identifying one quick win for the government
Greg Mills, Ray Hartley
22 Jun 2020