Huawei Technologies has revealed at the launch of its flagship Corporate Social Responsibility initiative “Seeds for the Future” 2019, that ten Ghanaian students are being sent to China to study the latest trends in ICT.
The students from the University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana Technology University College (GTUC), and the Koforidua Technical University will undergo an intensive training to help develop their skills and talent in ICT.
The students will be equipped with necessary skills to enable them identify and harness new opportunities in ICT. At Shenzhen there will be a one week hands-on training for the beneficiaries at the Huawei Headquarters where students will be taken through cutting edge ICT lessons, enterprise management experience sharing, 5G Network Setup, IoT, apt Enterprise Solutions demonstrations, a visit to Huawei’s world class Labs and Exhibition Halls. They will also have hands-on practice at Huawei’s laboratories guided by the company’s top engineers and experts.
Speaking at the event, the Minister of Communications, Hon. Ursula Owusu-Ekuful commended Huawei for their effort, urged the students to take their trip seriously and embrace the opportunity fully in order for them to come back and impact the ICT sector.
She also mentioned that Government is committed to supporting ICT initiatives in Ghana as part of its aim of developing the ICT capacity of the Ghanaian youth to help achieve the government’s digital transformation agenda.
Counsellor of the People’s Republic of China to Ghana, Mr. Chai Zhijing said “China’s massive economic boom is hinged mostly on ICT and such trend is seen globally. It is therefore very encouraging to see Chinese companies like Huawei undertake transformative initiatives to enhance the ICT talent pool in Ghana by building the capacity of young undergrads who will be the driving force behind Ghana’s ICT transformation in the not too distant future.”
The Managing Director for Huawei Ghana, Mr. Tommy Zhou: “Huawei believes that access to education is vital to create opportunities that support fair and sustainable development in economies, therefore our global CSR initiatives largely focus on education and knowledge transfer. This is the main reason behind the Seeds for the Future, Huawei’s global CSR flagship program. It is our most heavily invested CSR activity, and we will continue with this investment globally in the long term.”
Touching on the achievement of the 2018, Seeds for the Future team, Ida Padikuor Na-Tei, team lead for the group mentioned that, their two weeks experience in China was one of the best.
According to her, the Huawei seeds for the future program exposed them to cutting-edge technologies and with the lessons learnt on cloud computing, IoT, 4G and 5G, some team members are doing exploits in the likes of Ebenezer Frimpong who has started his own Telecom transmission company. With the company executing a Radio Remote Unit Upgrade project for Reime Ghana, on a Huawei-Vodafone project.
Another team member, Alfred Sarpong Adjei, has also built a device that measures in real-time, the passenger occupancy of a vehicle and can estimate the revenue generated over a period of time.
Ida Padikuor hosts a monthly dialogue called the TVA dialogue under Tech Voice Africa where critical issues in the tech ecosystem are discussed to help change the tech narrative and also influence policy making decisions. She was just awarded the Diana Award, established in memory of Diana, Princes of Wales for a Tech Hub she started at KNUST to inspire creativity and innovation in engineering students.
She mentioned that the Huawei seeds for the future program has been a major influence in making all these a reality and as such the new seeds should take advantage of the opportunity, experience every moment, make friends, study hard and have fun as two weeks in China is could be a life changing experience.
So far, 60 students have benefited from the Seeds for the Future initiative which was launched in Ghana in 2015. The program seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the telecommunications sector, and improve and encourage regional building and participation in the digital community.
