Celebrating Women in Tech: Yolande Margaret Goswell

Country: The Gambia
Title & Organisation: Systems and Project Manager, 2M Corp
Education: Masters and bachelor degrees in computer engineering

About 2M Corp… 2M Corp was established in 2019 and is a technology solutions company specialising in data analytics for large-scale impact evaluations and surveys, digital infrastructure design and software development. One of its major projects is  adapting open source software i.e. openIMIS to suit the needs of clients in the health and social protection sectors.
2M Corp and openIMIS… 2M Corp customised and implemented openIMIS for a cash transfer scheme in 2020 as part of the Government of The Gambia’s COVID-19 emergency response. Since then, 2M Corp has implemented openIMIS for a cash transfer scheme in Niue, a disability grant scheme in Lao, and is supporting implementation of the KADCHMA scheme of the Kaduna State Health Insurance in Nigeria, managed by ILO.

How did you become interested in working in IT?
“The CEO of a pioneer a technology consulting firm gave a speech at my high school which really piqued my interest. I was later awarded an internship with the company and this really got me hooked, so I applied for a scholarship to study computer science in India and it took off from there.”
 

What are the challenges for being a woman working in digital tech? 
“Keeping up with everything that is new in a very fast-moving field, and juggling my work with being a Mum, are probably the most challenging things for me. I don’t really see challenges that are related to being a woman from my own perspective. Women lead tech companies in The Gambia so the role models are there. But finding the funds to study at university is really hard for many people, not only for girls.”

What do you find most inspiring about your work and what are you most proud of?
“I manage a team of developers and I am responsible for system design and architecture, problem solving, and so on. While I sometimes have the urge to go back to the development space, I really enjoy project management and system design because there is so much creativity involved, which is very inspiring and motivating for me. I am most proud of managing projects from the ideation phase all the way through to their successful deployment.”