Professor Sainey Faye of Buckinghamshire New University has spent his career navigating the intersection of global finance and local governance. An academic and practitioner in sustainable financial governance, he has held senior roles in UK higher education and advises bodies including the UK Quality Assurance Agency and the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. Yet his work keeps circling back to The Gambia.
“I remain focused on The Gambia because lasting development is grounded in strong, credible domestic institutions,” the Bakoteh born Professor said. “My conviction is both personal and scholarly: governance systems determine whether economies are resilient or fragile.”
For Faye, The Gambia’s urgent challenge is not the absence of rules, but the gap between regulation and enforcement. “Formal structures exist, but implementation is constrained by limited resources, institutional capacity, and perceptions of inconsistency,” he argues. He calls for stronger independence, capability, and accountability among regulators to close that gap.
He also flags underdeveloped integration of sustainability and ESG principles. “Globally, governance is moving beyond compliance toward long-term value creation. In The Gambia, ESG remains weak. That reduces our appeal to responsible investors and limits our ability to use sustainable finance for inclusive growth.”
Capacity is another constraint. Faye points to shortages of trained independent directors and specialists in risk management and sustainability governance. “Effective governance depends on expertise, independence, and diversity of thought. We need targeted professional development and more transparent board appointments.”
State-owned enterprises, he adds, continue to suffer from weak transparency, performance oversight, and political influence. “Reforming SOE governance is critical to improving fiscal discipline and restoring public trust.” Finally, he stresses that fragmented regulatory coordination undermines efficiency and systemic stability.
The diaspora, in his view, has a direct role: structured knowledge transfer, institutional partnerships, board participation, mentorship, and ESG advisory. “Gambian professionals abroad can bridge global best practice with local realities and contribute to evidence-based policy discourse.”
Faye’s approach to leadership was forged early. He contracted polio in infancy and lives with scoliosis. Later, in UK academia, he navigated racial marginalisation. “Those experiences did not just create obstacles,” he says. “They shaped how I understand resilience, leadership, and responsibility.”
Living with physical difference made him sensitive to exclusion and underestimation. “It cultivated discipline and an acute awareness of systems that marginalise individuals,” he explains. Experiencing structural inequality in academia reinforced that understanding.
Those lessons define his leadership in three ways. First, empathy and inclusion: “Talent is equally distributed, but opportunity is not. Good leadership creates environments where overlooked people can contribute and thrive.” Second, excellence as agency: “When you are underestimated, your work must speak with clarity, rigour, and integrity. I feel a responsibility to meet the highest standards and open doors for those coming after.” Third, resilience anchored in purpose: “Challenges are inevitable. What sustains progress is knowing why you started.”
For young Gambians studying abroad, his advice is direct: own your identity confidently; invest deeply in competence; build supportive networks; maintain a long-term perspective; and stay connected to purpose and impact. “Education abroad is not only personal advancement. It is about acquiring knowledge you can apply to national and continental development.”
As former Deputy Head of the School of Business and Law at Buckinghamshire New University, Faye managed diverse teams and built international partnerships. He argues that The Gambia’s universities and regulators can adapt UK models without wholesale replication.
“Strong institutions are defined by robust governance, clear accountability, and strategic partnerships, not just resources,” he says. He points to independent, skills-based governing boards with transparent appointments; a culture of quality assurance and performance evaluation through bodies like the Office for Students and QAA; and distributed leadership that empowers faculties while maintaining oversight.
He also stresses the value of partnerships built around joint research, curriculum development, and capacity building, not just branding. “Financial governance and transparency are critical. The Gambia needs stronger systems around budgeting, procurement, and audit independence.” Above all, he calls for closer alignment between universities, regulators, and national development priorities.
Faye’s research centres on ethical finance and inclusive governance. His argument is simple: The Gambia must move from rule-based compliance to values-driven governance. “Compliance ensures minimum standards. Ethics shapes decision-making even without regulation,” he says.
Operationalising that shift means embedding ethics in boards and audit committees, making transparency the norm through proactive disclosure, aligning incentives with non-financial metrics, building capacity in risk management and ethical decision-making, prioritizing inclusive governance, and ensuring consistent enforcement. “Ethical governance is not separate from economic growth. It enhances efficiency, reduces systemic risk, attracts investment, and strengthens public trust.”
Mentorship is not peripheral for Faye; it is core. He advises early-career academics and works with institutions like the QAA and Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. For The Gambia, he envisions a pipeline of globally competent, locally grounded scholars and policymakers.
That means structured mentorship networks, stronger research capacity and doctoral training, co-authorship opportunities, exposure to international standards, and engagement with policy processes. It also means systematic diaspora collaboration through visiting lectureships, joint supervision, fellowships, and advisory roles. “Technical competence alone is not enough,” he says. “The next generation must lead with ethical awareness, resilience, and commitment to public value.”
For Professor Sainey Faye, strengthening governance in The Gambia is a developmental imperative. “Leadership is not defined by the absence of challenge, but by transforming adversity into insight, discipline, and a commitment to inclusive systems,” he says. His personal journey – from polio and scoliosis to global academic leadership – underpins that belief. The task now, he argues, is to adapt international experience thoughtfully to local realities and to invest in people as the most enduring engine of institutional renewal.
