Ugandan ICT students compete to represent Sub-Saharan Africa in the Global Huawei ICT Competitions

Growing a successful ICT Career is one of the best 21st-century learningpaths that has continuously been embraced by skilled individuals and students around the World.

In a bid to support the shooting high ICT evolution, several technology companies have risen to nurture fresh talent, and these include Huawei which has held a series of successful competitions for the past 5 years.

Through a Global ICT competition dubbed the Huawei Seeds for Future program, the Shenzhen based Technology giant annually nurtures ICT talent, and now, the company’s final 2020 round of the Global competition is on.

With over 150,000 contestants representing a tune of 2,000 universities and colleges from 70 countries worldwide, the 2019-2020 Huawei ICT competition regional finals started with an opening ceremony on 10th September attracting over 50,000 Students.

Running under the theme “Connection, Glory, Future”, the Sub-Saharan Africa finals of the competition are virtually held in South Africa with over 6 Ugandan students selected from the Makerere University Huawei ICT Academy.

A Future for the Sub-Saharan Competition

During the opening ceremony attended by several industry partners like UNESCO, the Huawei Southern Africa Vice President, Liao Yong highlighted the significance of connectivity in the era of social distancing, as a key enabler for the 2020 ICT competition.

As per a recent UNESCO webinar, digital infrastructure is identified as one of the prominent challenges facing higher education in Africa.

Given the fact that the current COVID19 Pandemic has taken a huge toll on education, the virtual 2020 global competition finals add a unique value ratio to participating students as Liao said:

“Holding the online version of ICT competition during the pandemic has a unique value, it shows that Huawei, as a pioneer in building African digital infrastructure, also takes its talent strategy very seriously. It encompasses three aspects; digital upskilling ICT professionals, encouraging and enabling ICT students, and promote ICT literacy among ordinary people，”

Liao Yong – Vice President Huawei Southern Africa

What Next for Ugandan ICT Students at the Huawei ICT Competition Global Finals

In preparation for the 2020 Global competition finals, Huawei has invested heavily in the awareness and enrollement of fresh talent.

Over 300 campus roadshows have run in 14 Sub-Saharan Africa countries, and a total of 50,000 students registered for the competition. Just like previous rounds of the competition, excelling students will get an all-expenses paid trip to China on top of ICT job offers.

Historically, over 300 students from the campaign have received fresh job offers based on their specialty by participation at the Global competition level.

So, top Ugandan students currently at the Global level in South Africa will stand a chance of getting Internship offers at Huawei Uganda, on top of battling for educational trips to China.

Hence, with a series of talent ecosystem campaigns in Sub Saharan Africa including Telecom Hackathons, Cisco’s Netriders competition, and the Huawei ICT competition. ICT education has become accessible than ever before.

Huawei alone targets over 700,000 ICT professionals to be trained by 2023 through its academy and annual competitions. For now, the company continues to focus on its main goal of bridging the ICT talent gap to advance digital transformation for a fully connected and intelligent world.