The finals of Huawei's Global Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Competition in sub-Saharan Africa kicked off on September 10 with an online ceremony. Under the motto “Conexão, Glória, Futuro”, this event is considered the largest of its kind on the African continent, bringing together 14 countries and attracting more than 50.000 students. At the global level, Huawei's ICT Competition 2019-2020 covered more than 70 countries, with 150.000 participants from more than 2.000 universities and colleges.
Launched in the region just five years ago, Huawei's ICT Competition has become Africa's largest ICT skills competition. During the opening ceremony, attended by UNESCO, students and industry partners, Huawei's Vice President for South Africa, Liao Yong, highlighted the importance of connectivity in the era of social detachment. “The digital divide is actually widening due to the 'new normal' caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. As people work and study more and more online, digitally disadvantaged people are the most affected, ”he said.
Aware of this, Liao stressed that “the online version of the ICT competition during the pandemic has a unique value, as it shows that Huawei, as a pioneer in the construction of the African digital infrastructure, also takes its development strategy very seriously. talents ”. This strategy, which he detailed, “covers three aspects: digital improvement of ICT professionals, incentive and training of ICT students and promotion of ICT literacy among ordinary people”.
Huawei invested heavily in the preparation of this event, holding 300 traveling exhibitions on campuses in 14 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, with a total of 50.000 participating students. Competition-related training helped more than 300 students to receive job offers.
Atabol Hamza Adenoi, a student from Nigeria, recognizes that this training was of great importance for students like him: “I started the journey to Huawei's ICT competition in August 2019, while doing my internship at ABU Zaria. I received training before examining the competition and soon afterwards I had the opportunity to do an internship at the headquarters of Huawei Nigeria, in Abuja ”.
Speaking during the opening ceremony, Ydo Yao, acting Director of the UNESCO International Education Bureau, applauded Huawei for playing an exemplary role in supporting initiatives that create, innovate and provide ICT skills to the continent. In a recent webinar, UNESCO identified digital infrastructure as the most important challenge facing higher education in Africa.
The partnership between UNESCO and Huawei on the African continent has been fruitful and includes projects such as DigiTruck and the Huawei ICT Academy, carried out under the auspices of Huawei TECH4ALL's digital inclusion initiative.
With a series of talent ecosystem campaigns in sub-Saharan Africa, including the ICT competition, Huawei hopes to improve the skills of more than 700.000 ICT professionals by 2023. The goal is to bridge the talent gap in this area, advance the digital transformation industries and bring digital to every person, home and organization, thus creating a fully connected and intelligent world.
