Remember the Huawei ICT competition here? Kenyan students from JKUAT, Multimedia University, Laikipia University and the University of Nairobi have clinched a chance to compete in November’s global final. This was announced yesterday at an online award ceremony that was attended by industry leaders, Government officials and other players from across Africa.
Africa saw 40 teams complete in the fierce regional competition and the Kenyan youngsters emerged top 8. In what has been the biggest attendance of the Huawei ICT competition so far, 50,000 students from 14 countries took part. This leap in attendance was made possible by the fact that students were completing online and were therefore more were able to join from different parts of the country and region.
This is not the first time that Huawei is coming through for the youth. Over the years, the tech giant has cooperated with over 250 universities in 14 Sub-Saharan countries including South Africa, Nigeria and Kenya. Through this cooperation, over 7,000 university students have been able to secure Huawei ICT certificates and this gives them a fighting chance in the highly competitive ICT related jobs and digital economy.
“As a private company serving the African market for over 20 years, Huawei has dedicated itself to and will always remain a trusted partner of governments and academia in building ICT talent pool, strengthening capacity building and increasing people’s digital competence”
Mr. How Tao – Global Vice President – Huawei
The Sub-Saharan Africa teams will attend the global final online from November 6 to 9. It will be exciting to see young African ICT students demonstrate their talent and innovation on a global level, and in competition with more than 300 peers from around the world.
Among the attendees of the online award ceremony was Mr. Darius Mogaka Ogutu – Director of University Education and Research at the Ministry of Education in Kenya.
“Collaboration between private sector and universities, especially when that private sector is one of the world’s leaders in that field,” – Mogaka.
The skills development opportunities provided by Huawei are an aspiration for students in a critical area which we now require a lot of expertise in Africa, now more than ever due to the disruption the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to our educational system.