Cuban-Jamaican Yamile Bustamante Allen’s dynamic corporate experiences in software development, network connectivity, integrated solutions, technical consulting, project management sales led her to become Microsoft Caribbean’s senior programme manager and country representative. She is the embodiment of “let your work speak for itself” and “do what you love”, underscoring her traits of applying her experiences, being determined, having a growth mindset, and being willing to take risks.

As senior programme manager, Bustamante Allen has oversight over Microsoft’s products and solutions across the entire Caribbean with team members located in Jamaica, Trinidad, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, and Florida/USA. Microsoft has been in the region for over 20 years, which demonstrates the company’s commitment to supporting the Caribbean. Jamaica, in particular, has a thriving economy that allows Microsoft to take full advantage of the existing opportunities.

Bustamante Allen and her team could navigate the pandemic smoothly because they had already been brand advocates of their solutions by using collaborative tools such as Microsoft Teams, Microsoft 365 for productivity, and Power BI for data analytics and visualisation. However, Microsoft Caribbean saw significant interest and uptake in their solutions due to the pandemic with a clear acceleration of digital transformation needs in all the segments, especially in the small-medium business sector. Therefore, to support their customers’ business continuity and digital transformation goals, the company offered trial periods, intensive training for their solutions, and strong capabilities building for the ecosystem of partners who ultimately support their customers.

Their employees at the physical stores were also leveraged to train customers on how to use the different solutions with the attendant goal of making customers aware of the solutions and adapting to the technology faster. Microsoft has also made incremental changes to their software, from customers’ interactions to improving the overall customer experience. She further noted that Microsoft focused on being inclusive by ensuring that the small companies use and leverage technology to drive business value and support growth.

Microsoft has partnered with the Ministry of Education (MoE) to start a skilling initiative for the unemployed, sponsored by Microsoft Philanthropies and supported by Blacks at Microsoft ( BAM), one of the company’s Employee Resource Group (ERG). The initiative aims to provide courses, certification and technology training available on the LinkedIn Learning platform. A learning academy provided by the BAM team will be the hub for the learning resources needed for the initiative.

Bustamante Allen confirmed that Microsoft has also engaged approximately 60 Jamaican volunteers trained to teach 30,000 people every year over the next five years. Additionally, Jamaica is the first country in the Caribbean to benefit from the US-based Technology, Education and Literacy in Schools (TEALS) programme, another MSFT Philanthropies programme that pairs trained computer science (CS) professionals with high school teachers to help build the CS teaching capabilities. The programme will provide, amongst others options, resources and training to develop diverse and inclusive classrooms, a pathway for students and teachers to learn CS content, personalised support from a dedicated regional manager, remote or in-person volunteer support for the information technology teachers in schools to bridge that gap that exists in the teaching-learning process.

e-Learning and MoE have both come on board to support the TEALS initiative implementation. Teachers will access a platform that will provide information and resources to equip them to deliver learning outcomes successfully. She believes that these initiatives will allow youngsters to explore careers in technology and pave the way for Jamaica to become a digital society. e-Learning and MoE have both come on board to support the implementation of the TEALS initiative

Bustamante Allen is proud that she has led a multicultural team as a cohesive unit that listens and learns from each other and her ability to impact Jamaica and the Caribbean through technology is humbling for her. Ultimately, Bustamante Allen wants to make her mark helping people to build their capacity and realise their true potential to achieve great things.