Emilie Filou is a freelance journalist specialising in business, the environment and development issues, with a particular interest in Africa.Emilie was born in Paris, France, where she lived until she was 18. She then decided to spend a year in Nepal with charity SPW before going to university. She studied geography at Merton College, Oxford, where she had to endure colouring-in jokes for three years. Her dissertation on health care provision for nomadic people in Niger won her the National Earthscan Prize for best undergraduate dissertation in development studies in the country.Emilie has travelled extensively in French-speaking Africa and Asia-Pacific. She is now based in the UK and makes regular trips to Africa. Her work has appeared in publications such as The Economist, The Guardian, The Africa Report and The Ecologist. She is a Lonely Planet author and works as the Maghreb correspondent of specialist water magazine Global Water Intelligence.You can find more on her website, www.emiliefilou.com