Ndiaye is the son of a gendarme, and his older brother is film director Souleymane Cissé. Inspired by his brother's career, Ndiaye moved to Canada to study filmmaking at the Université du Québec à Montréal. He returned to Bamako in 1997 to earn a master's degree in history. In 1998, Ndiaye founded the BlonBa theatre troupe alongside his friend, French philosopher and writer Jean-Louis Sagot-Duvauroux. He also studied cultural relations at the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3. Ndiaye co-wrote and produced five shows in the kotèba theatrical tradition, and the BlonBa troupe gave several hundred performances in Senegal, Benin, France and Belgium. In January 2007, BlonBa opened its cultural space, the only alternative to the French Cultural Center (CCF). The cultural space was forced to close in the aftermath of the 2012 Malian coup d'état, but its French branch allowed it to remain in business.