Youth empowerment especially in ICT is always a win. After all, there isn’t many sectors of life and the economy that do not rely on a field of ICT or other in this day and age. New technologies are coming up every other day and it is only prudent for learners and users to keep up the pace.
We however unfortunately do have quite a number of barriers to participation, with one of the major ones being lack of facilities like access to the internet. Government and private sector has often stepped in to help though. For instance, University Undergraduates who are undertaking ICT related degrees are in for a good run as Huawei Technologies Kenya launches the Seeds for the Future Sky program.
The Seeds for the Future program was launched in the country in 2014 with an aim to develop local ICT talent. It is a key component of the MoUs signed between Huawei and ICT Authority in 2014 and renewed in 2017 to improve provision of ICT skills, build capacity, infrastructure and IT services. Huawei Kenya was the first country to launch the program in Africa. This program is Huawei’s flagship global CSR program.
The event which will be held virtually for the first time since inception because of the pandemic will be a 5 day intensive training where 60 students will learn the latest technologies such as 5G, cloud computing and artificial intelligence. Participants will also learn leadership skills and a bit of Chinese culture. It is open to students across the country and as mentioned earlier, as much as internet access could be a hinderance, Huawei will support the costs for the same. Quite a step because a virtual program like this is obviously internet heavy and a lot of students could miss out due to lack of funds. More so because the program will involve livestreamed and pre-recorded content.
The Seeds for the Future program is different from other local internship programs because students get to have first-hand interaction with industry experts and online tours of Huawei labs. They witness live demonstrations of the latest ICT technologies, hold discussions with Huawei experts and also become part of the national and global Seeds of the Future network. Associating with a tech giant like Huawei I believe give the youth morale and keep them looking forward to the trainings.
And there’s also 2 month internships at the Huawei offices to look forward to and I do believe that these can set the youth up for very productive ICT careers. 121 Kenyan university students have already benefitted from these internships, with the best performing 47 of them having travelled to China for further training on Chinese language, culture and even more technology at the Huawei Global Headquarters.
Over the years, many of them have gotten employment either at Huawei itself or with Huawei partners. Applications for this exciting opportunity close on August 29th and those who fit the bill can read more about it and apply here. Short listed students will be selected and supported through the online training.