Huawei Kenya honors ICT contest winners

Huawei Kenya awarded 11 of the best students to win the 2018 National Competitive Competition in ICT Competitions.

Six of the winners from Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology (JKUAT), Meru University, Nairobi University and Zetech University are now scheduled to participate in the regional competition to be held in South Africa. the end of the month.

If they succeed, they will travel to China for a fully sponsored trip to the world finals that will involve candidates from more than 50 countries.

The competition, launched in July this year, saw more than 4,000 computer science students register for the preliminary stage in 40 universities across the country. Of these, 600 were selected for training after a competitive selection process, after which the top 100 were then coached during a training camp session before taking the exams at the school. 39, nationally.

At the awards ceremony on Wednesday, Mr. Li Xuhang, Charged'Affaires, Embbady of the People's Republic of China in Kenya, congratulated Kenyan students for taking part in the competition to improve and develop their ICT skills.

He urged Kenyan ICT students to take advantage of ICT to create miracles similar to what Huawei and Alibaba have achieved in China and around the world.

"Empowering youth, it's empowering the entire nation, which explains what Huawei is celebrating tonight: building human capacity. I encourage all young students to seize the opportunities offered by innovative technologies, such as ICT, to develop Kenya's global businesses. I also hope that they will become the ambbadadors of the friendly relations between Kenya and China, as the two countries will celebrate their 55th anniversary of diplomatic relations in December, "he said.

This is the first time that the ICT contest is organized in this region. Launched in 2015, the competition invites ICT students from around the world to test their ICT capabilities and provides a platform for the exchange of skills and experiences. Since then, the number of participants has increased, making it one of the largest competitions and platforms in the ICT sector.

"Huawei has demonstrated its commitment to lead the digital transformation in Kenya by investing in young people by providing them with the necessary knowledge and providing them with platforms and opportunities to improve their IT skills," said Jerome Ochieng, Secretary the Ministry of ICT. . "We continue to work with partners such as Huawei to leverage technologies as catalysts for the Big Four Agenda, such as precision agriculture for food security, smart housing and technically ready for affordable housing and connected hospitals for universal health care, "he added.

The Huawei ICT Contest is a platform geared towards the Huawei Authorized Information Academy (HAINA), a certified program that provides students with the latest technical training and certifications through speaker training on the Huawei Certified Network Assistant – Routing and Switching (HCNA-R & S).

Speaking at the ceremony, Mr. Alfred Cheruiyot, Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Education, congratulated the students for their results and challenged them to honor the Kenyan flag at the Cape Town Regionals. .

"We are proud of these young people, who have beaten thousands of other candidates and believe that they will do good things and represent us on the world stage in China." In addition, he congratulated Huawei for its continued investments in the education sector by bridging the gap between the knowledge acquired in universities and the demands of the labor market.

Kennedy Muthaura of Zetech University s' imposed himself as the champion of the national finals and received a laptop Huawei Matebook as a prize for his excellent performance. He is accompanied by five other top students from the University of Agriculture and Technology Jomo Kenyatta, Meru University and the University of Nairobi, who will travel to South Africa to the regional finals.

Huawei Kenya and a number of company partners such as Redington, Sybl Limited, Next Technologies, Smoothtel, Express Auto, Computech and Atlancis have offered internships to the excellent results of the competition. Huawei continues to lead the telecommunications industry with leading-edge innovations, strategic partnerships and skills transfer through innovative programs like this one.

The ICT 2018 competition has been launched in more than 10 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including South Africa, Nigeria, Kenya and Zambia. Under the slogan "Connection, Glory, Future", this event attracted more than 20,000 participants. This figure has increased significantly, from 1,000 in 2017.

This program is just one of many Huawei programs to encourage young ICT talent to address labor shortages, boost employment and support the country's digital transformation.

Other initiatives include the digital literacy initiative for rural citizens benefiting from broadband for the first time, the DSL program (digital skills for life) for four people, the Seeds for the Future program for young people. Undergraduate students, the Graduate Training Program and the Presidential Digital Talent Program Support. (PDTP).

In September 2018, Huawei Kenya released its first-ever sustainability report entitled "Kuwa Nawe, Kua Nawe"; "To be with you, to grow with you", underlining his continued and long-term commitment and support to help the country and the people of Kenya to develop and grow through innovative ICT solutions in various sectors.