Côte d’Ivoire appoints Sidy Cissé as CDC-CI director general

The Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations de Côte d’Ivoire (CDC-CI) has appointed Sidy Cissé as its new director general, the institution said on Sept. 25.

Cissé succeeds Lassina Fofana, the CDC-CI’s first director general. His appointment comes as the public financial institution seeks to strengthen its role in mobilising resources and financing strategic and long-term projects in Côte d’Ivoire.

An engineer by training, Cissé graduated from France’s École Polytechnique and École des Mines de Paris. He has more than 20 years of professional experience spanning public finance, infrastructure and hydrocarbons in Côte d’Ivoire and abroad.

Since 2017, he had served as deputy chief of staff to the Ivorian prime minister, overseeing financial, economic and infrastructure matters. In that role, he was involved in monitoring the country’s economic and financial programme with the International Monetary Fund, mobilising funds through Eurobond issuances and structuring major state projects.

Cissé previously served from 2013 to 2017 as deputy chief of staff to the minister of Budget and State Portfolio, where he contributed to public-finance reforms and the creation of the Directorate General of the State Portfolio.

From 2011 to 2013, he was an adviser to the minister responsible for economic infrastructure, working on major projects including the financing and implementation of Abidjan’s third bridge.

Before returning to Côte d’Ivoire in 2011, Cissé worked in banking at Crédit Agricole in France and in the hydrocarbons sector with Schlumberger, including assignments in Sudan, India and Saudi Arabia.

At the CDC-CI, his mandate is to continue the mobilisation and secure management of the institution’s resources and strengthen its contribution to financing strategic, structural and public-interest projects in Côte d’Ivoire.

Created in 2018, the CDC-CI is a public financial institution tasked with mobilising and managing public and private funds and contributing to the financing of the Ivorian economy.