Times are tough and job losses are becoming the order of the day as the effects of Covid-19 continue ravaging companies and businesses. During these difficult times, ICT is become more of a pillar than ever and people with these skills stand at better positions to hang on to some sort of livelihood. Or to get a new opening all together.
Despite the difficulties that the country is facing for example, Huawei continues to invest in local talent through training programs, internships, and full-time hires. And today, Huawei Kenya and their partners organized an online job fair as they seek to hire more than 40 professional ICT workers.
Hundreds of students have benefitted from these programs. Over 100 students conducted interviews today with Huawei Kenya and their partners recruiting 40 students into the ICT workforce. All University students that graduated in the past year were eligible to take part. The positions included IP/IT Solution Engineers for the Enterprise Business division, Software Service Engineers as well as Technical Solution Engineers.
These are the kinds of investments that will spur the next phase of the much needed economic recovery. And with 85% of citizens being covered by 3G network, citizens are able to do business, transact money, access Government services online and even get health information from accurate sources. In the end ICT has proven to be of the utmost importance in combating the pandemic.
Because existing infrastructure, online services and e-government requires talent to build, maintain and support. All the while as developing the ICT field in the country. Eventually, Kenya can use technology to recover faster after Covid-19 has left town. ICT will also play a central role in speeding up our long-term growth.
The job fair was opened by Kenya’s Jerome Ochieng – Principle Secretary in the Ministry of ICT, Innovation and Youth Affairs. During the opening, Jerome acknowledged Huawei’s contribution in the past in enabling talent and growth of the sector. He also acknowledged other partners like Ajira Digital which has trained over 100,000 youth, and Seeds of the Future.
Jerome noted that “As many companies are letting people go due to the adverse effects of Covid-19 on business and the economy, the Huawei online job fair is a testament that this industry is growing and job opportunities are available .”
This is certainly not the first time that Huawei is enabling ICT in the country and beyond. Back in 2008, the company set up the East Africa Training Center which has trained more than 5,000 people. It has also created employment in impressive numbers with an average of 2,000 Kenyans working on its projects either directly or indirectly at any time. This is in addition to providing hundreds of internships through Seeds for the Future Program, and training 130 lecturers and over 2,500 students through the ICT Academy program.
Huawei intends to train and hire more local staff and that’s why they organized the job fair today. The youth are encouraged to take Huawei certifications and internships and apply for positions in the company.