Reflections
A young, Senegalese girl works as a cleaner, teaches herself how to code and then sets out to change the lives of a million girls by teaching them how to code as well. Most people would think that this story is merely fiction and fantasy but it is true – That young girl is now the Founder of IAMTHECODE, Marieme Jamme!
Marieme is now on the Board of Directors of the World Wide Web Foundation and won the Innovation award at Goalkeepers Global Goals Awards, which were hosted by U.N. Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed and Melinda Gates. What a journey! Through this interview, I learnt that whoever you are, wherever you’ve come from, you can do anything if you put your heart into it.
Biography
Lady Mariéme Jamme is an award-winning Technologist and pioneer in system change, a Young Global Leader of the World Economic Forum . In Sept 2017, she won the Innovation Award at the Global Goals Award as a GoalKeeper for her work in advancing the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals , by supporting globally young women and girls and governments.
A Senegalese-born, French- British businesswoman, with over 20 years of experience. She’s best renowned for her motivational & inspirational Speeches about girl’s education through STEAMD (Science, technology, engineering, mathematics, arts and design) and empowerment of youth living in marginalised communities.
Lady Mariéme Jamme was born in Senegal to an aristocrat mother who originated from Saint Louis of Senegal from the Toucouleurs ethnic group. In the early 90s, Jamme learnt that the father she never knew had died and was a prominent figure in post-colonial Senegal and had other children.
In the 1970s, her mother was having difficulty raising herself and her twin brother, so they were sent to live in a village called Kaolack where she was raped at the age of 11 years by her Quranic Teacher.
She experienced considerable hardship during her childhood and did not have a formative education until the age of 16 years old when she taught herself how to read & write.
Now Surrey-based, Lady Mariéme, moved in the UK where she reinvented her self by learning how to code seven programming languages from her local library and her kitchen. She received outstanding global accolades for being one of the pioneers in the technology ecosystem in Africa and for her passion in empowering marginalised girls to have access to education and Digital skills.
In 2014 and 2017, through the generosity of the Forum of young global leaders of the World Economic Forum, Lady Mariéme attended both the Harvard Kennedy School Education Module, ‘Global Leadership and Public Policy for the 21st Century’ and YGL Yale University Education Module, Leadership and Decision Making in the 21st Century. A BBC Top 100 Women nominee , she was named twice on the UK Powerlist 2017 and 2018 of Britain’s 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean Heritage. Often called the diplomat of technology, she was also named twice in 2014 and in 2016 as one of the 100 most influential Africans by the African Business Magazine. In 2018, Lady Mariéme became a founding member of the Future Talks Expedition,which gathered 100 global leaders from 42 countries to visit the Arctic (North Pole.) She’s the first Senegalese woman who made it to the Arctic. Lady Mariéme is on the Board of Directorship of the World Wide Web Foundation(Founded by Sir Tim Berners-Lee).
Lady Mariéme’s is the CEO of Spotone Global Solutions, a British technology B2B consultancy firm. The company has worked with many Businesses such Google, Ernest and Young, the White House, Microsoft, UN Women, Legatum Institute, HSBC Private Banking, The Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown, The Africa Progress Panel chaired by Kofi Annan, the Obama Administration, Unilever, the Argentine Government, and multiple African governments.
Lady Mariéme’s latest venture includes the launch of iamtheCODE.org, the first African-led global movement to mobilize government, the private sector, and philanthropic foundations to advance STEAMD (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics and Design) Education. Her goal is to empower 1 million young women & girls globally to become coders by 2030 and to align with the UN 2030 Agenda. Lady Mariéme recently got nominated by Apolitical as their World’s 100 most influential people in Digital Government.
Lady Mariéme is writing her first book.
