Cheikh Oumar Seydi is a development executive with over three decades of experience in investment, advisory, and philanthropic operations across emerging markets, with a deep focus on Africa. He has held senior leadership roles at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the IFC (World Bank Group), and across the private sector.

Born and raised in Senegal, Cheikh began his career at USAID in Dakar before completing an MBA at Harvard Business School. He joined the IFC in 1998, where over 22 years he held a range of field-based and headquarters leadership positions, including Regional Representative for Central Africa, Global Director for Human Resources, and Regional Director for Sub-Saharan Africa, where he managed IFC’s investment and advisory operations across 49 countries in the region.

From 2018 to 2024, he served as Africa Director for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, overseeing a major expansion of the foundation’s grant programmes and physical presence across the continent across all priority areas, including global health, gender equality and economic opportunity. He recently retired from this role.

Cheikh is a highly accomplished relationship builder with strong networks across political leadership, development finance partners, and continental policy bodies. Cheikh brings substantial executive leadership experience, a valuable pan-African network, deep expertise in funding partnerships, and a broad understanding of private sector development and financial institution strengthening. He currently serves on the board of VillageReach, a primary healthcare organisation focused on underserved communities, where he sits on the finance committee. His extensive experience in global health, development finance, and organizational leadership will support VillageReach’s 2030 goal of improving healthcare delivery for 350 million people across 15 countries.

Cheikh is fluent in English and French. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School.