Elhadji Malick Guèye is the general director of Wave digital finance Senegal. Considering himself a product of the Senegalese education system, he previously worked at Deloitte, at Mazars, then in the Moroccan banking group Bmce. One of its challenges today is social and financial inclusion.
Among actors from the financial ecosystem present at the Africa financial summit, organized in Casablanca at the beginning of December by Jeune Afrique media group and the International Finance Corporation (Sfi), Elhadji Malick Guèye carefully follows the debates on policies and ways to achieve a pan-African financial system. His agenda for this financial meeting also included B to B meetings with African finance leaders. At his 31, in a gray suit, Mr. Guèye slowly advances towards the “Cauri” room, one of the spaces set up for VIP networking. Average height, his gaze always hidden behind glasses, he has been the general director of Wave digital finance Senegal since May 2024. Elhadji Malick Guèye replaced Coura Tine Sène who is now responsible for regional coordination of the American group. He thus celebrates years of career in the ecosystem of auditing, consulting, but also finance. “My career, so far, has taken me to around twenty African countries, advising on strategic and operational initiatives, mainly for financial institutions,” he says.
Before becoming Managing Director of Wave digital finance, Malick Guèye was at Deloitte as a partner, coordinating data technology risk management services for French-speaking Africa. At the same time, the young Senegalese managed the Risk Advisory business line, which brings together all risk management services, including regulatory, financial and operational ones, between 2019 and 2024. Still regarding his professional experience, the new director general of Wave digital finances held the position of Senior manager at Mazars. “I was responsible for auditing and consulting in information systems. It was between February 2016 and January 2019. I also evolved in the African banking sector, between July 2009 and January 2016, starting with Ecobank Senegal as head of technological infrastructure and internal auditor,” explains Mr. Guèye. Subsequently, he worked at Bmce Bank of Africa as Inspector General, operating mainly at the subsidiary level in East Africa.
Product of the Senegalese school
“I consider myself a pure product of the Senegalese education system,” says Elhadji Malick Guèye proudly. After his baccalaureate, he joined the Higher School of Technology and Management (Estm) in Dakar. It was to follow specialist training. Subsequently, in 2016, as part of the Mandela Washington fellowship, he was able to attend the University of Texas in Austin for training in business and entrepreneurship. “This learning base in Senegal, reinforced by an international component in Europe and the United States, when I had already started my professional career, was a great asset to me for the future. This is especially the case when it comes to responding to local issues thanks to solutions from here or elsewhere, but above all adapted to our context,” underlines the general director of Wave digital finances.
Today, he says, as a young Senegalese, it is a priesthood to lead this company “which has rebalanced” the digital financial services market in Senegal. “It is a function that I assume with great humility, that of offering a quality service, accessible in complete safety and affordable to millions of Senegalese here and in the diaspora. With the team around me, we are committed to serving, to listening to the needs of the market, while maintaining a high level of customer satisfaction,” he says. An exciting mission, in his eyes, to be an actor in a dynamic financial system. “Our industry is experiencing growing and dazzling developments both in the offering of financial services and in terms of technological innovation. I note this with satisfaction by observing how the experience of basic services which have been digitalized has ended up making the lives of the Senegalese easier, but also, most importantly, to include everyone in the march towards financial inclusion and social,” maintains Mr. Guèye. To shine and serve his company, the expert intends to focus on innovation. “There are no secrets. To remain efficient, you have to work and innovate.
By applying these principles to Wave today, we are continually working to diversify the offering and enrich the experience of using our customers' financial services,” he adds. At the head of Wave digital finances, Elhadji Malick Guèye has several challenges to overcome. One of them is financial inclusion. “Our credo is to democratize access to financial services. It is an ongoing process. Beyond the transfer which made it possible to make savings in the pockets of the Senegalese, we assessed the opportunity to do more on other generations of services. This is the case of the transfer from the bank account to the electronic money account,” he explains.
Achieve financial inclusion
According to him, prices have fallen considerably to allow customers to benefit from this innovative service which will change the experience with partner banks. The mission now, indicates Mr. Guèye, is to strengthen collaboration with the ecosystem, support players to increase their margins and consolidate the impact of the partnership in a constantly evolving economic context. “Financial inclusion is an important part of our program to develop innovative means of payment. This is precisely the component of dissemination of good practices for promoting the electronic wallet. We have signed a partnership agreement with the Observatory for the quality of financial services (Oqsf) and consumer associations to develop an awareness campaign for the benefit of users,” informs the director of Wave digital finances, determined to work for a more developed, more connected mobile money market.
Demba DIENG
