Huawei announces 1000+ certified (HCIA-R&S) students since 2018 and releases its 1st job fair report during Annual ICT Week 2019
[Nairobi, Kenya, May 17, 2019] Huawei attended the Annual ICT week 2019 which was hosted by Communications Authority of Kenya (CA) on 16th and 17th May. At the event, Huawei’s ICT Academy Manager Michael Kamau explained how it builds capacity amongst youth and technology students and announced the milestone of TRAINING and certifying 1000+ (HCIA-R&S) students since 2018, whilst also helping many of them get internships and jobs through its recent Job Fair.
Huawei Kenya has several ICT talent development and mentoring programs such as the Huawei ICT Academy, Huawei Job Fair, Huawei ICT Competition, Graduate Management Program, Seeds for the Future internship program and a strategic partnership with ICT Authority for the Presidential Digital Talent Program.
Huawei ICT Academy which is a non-profit has grown tremendously from the year 2017 when it was first introduced in Kenya. So far, it has managed to partner with 23 universities and colleges in Kenya to offer Huawei Routing & Switching certifications (HCIA-R&S). Technical University of Kenya, Zetech University, University of Nairobi, Africa Nazarene University, Kisii University, Laikipia University, Moi University, Multimedia University, Strathmore University, Maseno University, Technical University of Mombasa, Taita Taveta University and Meru University of Science and Technology are some of the institutions of higher learning that offer Huawei certification.
Huawei Kenya also offers ICT Skills capacity building to partner universities and colleges by training lecturers who upon being certified, facilitate the HCIA-R&S training to students in their respective institutions. Huawei has managed to get more than 1000 students certified since 2018, and more than 65 lecturers have been trained from 29 universities and 27 colleges. Huawei produces industry ready professionals through forming partnerships with universities and the ICT job industry.
On April 30th 2019, Huawei held its 1st Job Fair to provide internship and job opportunities to youth with HCIA-R&S certifications, in partnership with Redington, Sybyl, Com21, Next Technologies, Computech, Victorock and Specicom. 47 students with HCIA-R&S certification attended the job fair. 15 youth managed to get jobs and internships opportunities in reputable ICT companies which have partnered with Huawei to develop local youth ICT talent and workforce to drive the ICT industry. “At Huawei, I have interacted with engineering experts in the field of networking and transmission. Currently, I am working on National Optic Fibre Backbone Infrastructure (NOFBI), a government project aimed at ensuring connectivity across all the 47 counties in Kenya. Thank you Huawei Kenya for this great opportunity!” Zipporah Wachira, a second year Telecommunications and Information Engineering student at JKUAT remarked. Zipporah is amongst the top students who qualified for the Global Final 2018-2019 Huawei ICT Competition and is set to travel to China to compete on May 2019.
Network Infrastructure Services ICT Centre Deputy Director at the University of Nairobi, Mr. Joram Kinuthia, said that Huawei is doing great in encouraging youth participation in the digital community. He urged more ICT lecturers to become certified and offer Huawei training to students in Kenyan universities in order to build their ICT careers.
“University of Nairobi (UoN) is committed to providing advanced industry level certifications through strategic partnerships with ICT companies. We acknowledge Huawei’s support in setting up the Huawei ICT Academy at UoN which provides necessary hands on ICT skills to students.” Mr. Joram Kinuthia said.
Huawei Kenya announced that it will hold another Job Fair in late 2019 with the goal of bringing more local ICT partners and customers on board to mentor Huawei certified ICT students and offer jobs and internship opportunities to them. Huawei also announced that the next PDTP cohort IV training will for the first time be held in 5 counties instead of one to attract more participation from youth in rural areas.
Huawei is committed to supporting the development of local ICT talent and to better bridge the gap between industry requirements and the capabilities of the local workforce. Through providing industry level ICT certification, Huawei enhances knowledge transfer, promotes a greater understanding of, and interest in the ICT sector a key driver of economic growth in Kenya.
Background
Huawei Technologies is a leading global ICT solutions provider that operates in 173 countries worldwide. The company which has its headquarters in Shenzhen, China was founded in 1987 and has since expanded and grown into a global telecommunications giant serving a third of the world’s population.
Its success leading up to Huawei earning revenue of over 105.2 Billion USD in 2018 can mainly be attributed to continuous Research & Development in the field of ICT. Currently, the company has over 180,000 employees, 80,000 working in R&D. Huawei operates under three core Business groups namely Consumer, Enterprise and Carrier.
Since 2018, Huawei Kenya has provided its comprehensive Industry Level Certification to students through collaborating with Kenyan Universities under its not-for-profit program dubbed Huawei ICT Academy. Through the Academy, students get the unique opportunity to acquire Huawei ICT Certification in Cloud Computing, Big Data, Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Routing and Switching. The Academy’s goal is to produce Certified ICT Professionals with requisite Hands on ICT skills fit for the rapidly growing ICT Industry in Kenya. Student are able to acquire Associate Level, Professional and Expert level training and Certification.