Since February 2016, Therese Jamaa has been General Manager of GSMA, the platform for telecommunication operators and companies that organises the Mobile World Congress, yet she had already been in love with Barcelona a long time before that. She points out that the city sells itself but she wants more: making the Catalan capital the Mobile World Capital beyond 2023 is one of her aims and bringing innovative projects to the city so that they can be developed here is the other.
In recognition of her promotional work –and no doubt also her charisma, which spreads enthusiasm contagiously- this week the Generalitat de Catalunya awarded Jamaa the Premi Dona TIC 2016 in the Promotion category. "It is a great honour for me, as it also recognises the work of the GSMA team and also the Mobile World Capital. What's more, it confirms why I love to live here, where I have lived for the past 15 years. It was my dream," she points out with enthusiasm.
These days there are a lot of proposals for promoting technological vocations in young people and women. What is your take on that?
We know there are job opportunities in the world of technology. At VIA Empresa you reported that there will be 900,000 jobs in 2020, according to the European Commission and no one can afford to ignore that, neither men nor women. It is sad today that many women are left on the sidelines, not because they want to be, but because they have not chosen the right path to get there. The GSMA is an association of 800 mobile operators and 300 companies in the telecom ecosystem and we see that there are initiatives, that there is change. For example, there are millions of people looking for work and a lot of companies looking for people with a more technological profile, people with knowledge. Only 20% of the attendees to the Mobile World Congress are women, and not because they do not want to come, but rather because there are fewer women who have taken the path that leads there. The answer is for this world to begin to attract them in one way or another, because we have not presented them with the right elements to win them over as girls. There are mentoring and coaching initiatives for younger women and it is a good thing for them to have a mentor to help them.
Do they do this with the companies in the GSMA?
We see it among the operators, but also in the GSMA. Here we have people in the team who we try to show other styles, who exchange information because if you have a direct manager, perhaps you do not feel comfortable telling them what you would really like to change.
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| Photo: Lali Álvarez |
And as an executive of such an important organisation as the GSMA, how do you see the situation of women in the world of technology?
I think that there are barriers, it is true. We cannot close our eyes and say that everything is perfect. There is still a difference in pay, but a lot of work is happening to change that. At our HQ, in HR, we want to be an example and if a post is advertised, and we get four responses, we want to consider men and women equally, even if you go on to take the best, not just a woman because of her gender. But we want them to be there, that there be more women at our events. Even though I am not belittling it, I also think it is a question of attitude, of whether you are willing to fight for it more. I was given no advantages, to get here I had to go through London, to reach this project, I had to go through other places, such as selling boats. It is not easy, I did not want to travel so much because I had two children, but it was a sort of sacrifice, because if it worked, it could end up taking me somewhere. Attitude is very important, and not to sit back: you have to fight, work and persevere. And if it does not work out well, it's not a problem, you try again, but you have to be constructive because no one will give you anything for free. I am not an engineer, and I could ask "what am I doing here?" When I was working on the Internet of Things (IoT), I thought I would never be able to do it, so I decided to do it with the best team to find projects, such as a fridge that alerts you if it hasn't been opened for more than five days.
Is that what technology is for? To improve people's lives?
Yes, because having technology for technology's sake makes no sense. When I was told about the IoT at the beginning I didn't understand the interest in it. I thought about how it would change my life having to programme my coffeemaker, it wouldn't make me happier and, what's more, I would then be getting message from a coffeemaker every day! I was not convinced. But to convince others I had to be convinced myself and so I had to go through that stage, asking normal people about it. A colleague told me about how useful the fridge would be for old people, another told me about pyjamas made in Catalonia for babies that included a thermometer, so as not to wake the baby, which was also connected to one's mobile. The people who make things are thinking about how this technology can be used. For example, operators have projects for people with intellectual disabilities so that the mobile explains how the printer works, because these people forget. This is how technology improves lives and for the operator it is a way of improving someone's life. I believe a lot in that.
Will the novelties we will see in February at the Mobile be related to these type of projects?
There has always been a social element, that has to be behind each technology, we have seen that for years now. What is important is to work with foundations, as technology companies have intitiatives that can be useful. Often, under the slogan of corporate social responsability, new projects can be developed, a basis for a project provided, but which later disappears because it needs to be sustainable. I can convince an American company from Sant Diego to come and develop their project, but what they want is for the project to continue later without them. In the end, even if it is social, it needs to have an interest that will last and also for the company, both things have to go together so that it lasts for longer. It is very important. It is not only technology, it is really showing that it changes people's lives.
What new things will we see in this edition of the Mobile?
Uh! I am not the one to explain that. John Hoffman will do so at a news conference like every year, where he will explain everything, but what you are going to see will be great.
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| Photo: Lali Álvarez |
Tell us something, even if only a small detail...
Ok, it will once again be a major event. As General Manager of GSMA here, my project is for the Capital to continue here. We will be the Mobile World Capital until 2023 and I would love for it to be so afterwards. I want to bring projects here, for companies to come and for them to want to stay here, not for them to be here for a short while and then leave again. All the new things are important, such as the 4YFN, a project that the Mobile World Capital began here and where startups with fewer resources can have a large stand, as they need contact with investors. Last year there were more than 3,600 attendees among journalists and analysts and if you have a small company, it is a great platform for people to find out about you. The best thing is that this idea has been exported to Shanghai and will take place in the United States in September. When people talk about the Mobile World Congress they no longer refer to it like that, they say "we are going to Barcelona". It is the flagship project for us and I am happy it is so. Barcelona is a point of reference and now is the time to make a noise about it.
Some novelties have been announced, such as a section just for children, to involve them in technology, and another space devoted to women.
Yes. The children in the Mschools programme, which is being carried out in Catalonia with more than 24,000 children who develop apps and play with technology. They will come to the Youth Mobile Festival, in the Montjuïc venue: there will be workshops, they will be able to build robots, 3D prints. We have received 170 proposals for workshops; it's great. We have a lot of projects but we have told them that no one should come without something to sell, that they should come with ideas so that the kids will want to study these subjects. For example there will be a dress that lights up, a workshop to programme a robot with an emotion and the children will be able to visit the congress, talk with a female engineer, with a female teacher, to get closer to this world. We did this at Shanghai and it was a success despite little preparation and here we are preparing very well. And in Women for Tech there will be the top speakers, with sessions during the whole of the MWC, speed dating sessions and in the 4YFN there will also be sessions to promote the inclusion of women.
And as the firm defender of Barcelona that you are, do you think the city can be the Mobile World Capital after 2023?
This is an interesting event and there are a lot of candidates, but we love being here, not only me, but also the GSMA. I saw it from the outside, as a participating company, and I saw that Barcelona is a welcoming city, there is talent, it is very open, very tolerant. The city itself is phenomenal, there is art and good food, but there is no need for me to sell it, it does so for itself. We want to do everything to make the event grow and one of my objectives is to make sure we do more, beyond the four days of the event itself. We are doing projects with connectivity, sensors, etc., for example, to find out what people do when they come out of the metro at Sagrada Família. But we need to do more things, and I think that is why I was given the Premi Dona TIC, because the important thing is to communicate what is happening. Barcelona is a gift, it has incredible value, but we need to keep on explaining that abroad.