Grieve Chelwa recently completed his PhD in economics at the University of Cape Town, where he focused on the economics of tobacco control in South Africa, Uganda and Zambia. Previously, Grieve was a researcher at the Center for Financial Regulation and Inclusion in Cape Town, where he worked on public policy issues in the Southern African region. Grieve also worked as a Management Associate for Citibank in their Africa Division, based in Johannesburg. Grieve obtained his Masters degree in economics from the University of Cape Town and his Bachelors degree also in economics from the University of Zambia. His home town is Lusaka but he has lived in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Kinshasa, Lagos and Nairobi.

As a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Center for African Studies, Grieve will conduct research on the economics of education in his native Zambia. He frequently blogs for the influential online blog Africa Is A Country and some of his writings have appeared in Quartz Africa.