A first for him as well as the Group: Falaye Keita, Head of the Purchasing and Finance Department at Eramet Sandouville, is the first expatriate employee of GCO. Read about his story below.

Six months ago, Falaye Keita traded the dunes of Senegal for the plains of Normandy when he transferred to Eramet Sandouville – a trip of over 5,000 km that has made him the first expatriate employee of GCO.

Traveling is in his blood: originally from Mali, he studied management control and taxation in Senegal. His career began in finance, working for various local companies, including a mobile telephone operator and a cigarette producer. His responsibilities involved cash flow management, but he also dabbled in software development, including software for inventory tracking. His performance during an ERP project even made him the first employee from his company to receive an ABCD Award (for going “Above and Beyond the Call of Duty”).

In 2011, he was hired as a management auditor for the GCO project: “I witnessed the beginning of the mine, from the construction phase to its opening in 2014. While working on this project, I also helped create the company’s Finance Department, and later became Head of the Management Control Department, for which I also handled recruitment,” he explains.

In 2018, another opportunity for advancement came his way when the Finance Director left for a few months, allowing Falaye to step into his shoes. Yet he continued to nurture even greater ambitions, including an international transfer: “I had wanted to move around internally for a few years. With my experience, I knew that it was possible. There was this opportunity at Eramet Sandouville. It was a site where I felt I could help improve things, and also a small-scale plant where you’re always close to the ground. That’s what I was looking for. That’s what motivated my decision.” 
As Head of the Purchasing, Finance & IT Department at Eramet Sandouville, Falaye is now responsible for improving the site’s cash management, which requires implementing a cost reduction strategy within a radically different work environment. None of this seems to phase him, however. “Going from Senegal to France is obviously a little disorienting, but I was really taken care of by Eramet during my transfer; and on a professional level, things didn’t change much in the end: I still work with the same people, I use the same tools… I’ve just traded mineral sands for nickel!”