Leading Telecommunications giant, Huawei Technologies, has launched the 6^th edition of their global flagship Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative, ‘Ghana Sky Seeds for the Future programme’ in Accra.

The programme, in partnership with the Ministry of Communication, the Ministry of Education, UNESCO, National Council of Tertiary Education, University of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) and the Ghana Communications Technology University (GCTU) looks forward to giving 50 university students in STEM the opportunity to expand their scope in ICTs whiles advocating for more female participation.

The intensive 5 days experience which will be held online, will introduce students to new technologies, equip them with necessary skills to enable them identify and harness new opportunities in ICT whiles offering them the opportunity to meet and connect with top ICT professionals in the tech space.

This year, beneficiaries will experience a virtual tour of the Huawei Head Quarters in China as they are taken through advanced courses like IoT, Cybersecurity, Digital Trade, Digital Economy, Cross-Cultural Management, Strategic Management, Leadership Skills and other open ecosystem trainings.

Participants will also get the opportunity to experience Chinese Culture and hi-tech Huawei laboratories through various scheduled virtual tours as well as live interactions with industry leaders in Ghana and China.

Speaking at the event, the Minister of State in charge of Tertiary Education, Hon. Kwesi Yankah applauded Huawei for the effort made in ensuring the 2020 Seeds for the Future Programme comes off successfully despite the difficult times we are in.

“Government knows with gratitude, Huawei’s support of technical university across the country in capacity building, promoting cutting edge projects like 5G technology, cloud computing and Routing and Switching and as a result highly appreciates the effort,” he said.

He entreated beneficiaries to embrace the project with all seriousness and seize the opportunity to learn and obtain the skillset needed to become useful to themselves and the country at large.

Mr Diallo Abdourahamane, Country Director, UNESCO Ghana, congratulated Huawei for prompting the 2020 Seeds for the Future program well in Ghana and contributing its quota towards ICT development across borders.

“As an organisation working with its member states to bring knowledge to societies that are inclusive, open and participatory, UNESCO does not only applaud your effort but recognises Huawei as a partner in building knowledgeable societies.

Prof Felix Asante, ProVC for Research and Development, University of Ghana, further indicated that Huawei’s Seeds for the future initiate in very key and much appreciated by UG and as such they hope that through this collaboration, the digitization agenda of Ghana and UG as a public university will be improved upon.

“UG is very happy to be part of this launch and we will be glad to work with you to develop more ideas to support STEM in Ghana,” he said.

Adding up to what the partners had reiterated earlier, Ing. Dr. Abdul-Rahman, Dean, Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering, KNUST, mentioned that ICT is the bedrock in the currency in which we transact businesses and engage citizens hence its relevance for current development by any country.

Therefore, Huawei’s participation in making it possible for tertiary students to get quality skills in ICT is very significant and this is the kind of partnership KNUST looks forward to, in engaging students to make them relevant in the economy.

In entreating student to take the programme seriously, Charge d’Affaires of the People's Republic of China to Ghana, Zhu Jing encouraged students to make good use of the opportunity to develop Ghana’s ICT Talent pool and broaden their horizon.

Mr Edward Hou, Vice President, Huawei Technologies iterated that Huawei’s Seeds for the Future initiative was introduced because of the huge potential discovered in industry-academia collaboration.

According to him, through this programme, Huawei intends to cultivate future-ready talent and encourage young people in Africa and around the globe to communicate, challenge, and discuss ideas in a cross-cultural environment whiles creating more sparkle for technology and civilization.

Mr. Tommy Zhouwei, Managing Director of Huawei Ghana, encouraged female participants to embrace the opportunity and consider pursuing careers in the telecoms space as their presence and contribution is greatly needed the sector.

He mentioned that in the heat of the pandemic this year, Huawei introduced its Study at-home program for their ICT Academies which benefitted 2000 students out of which over 600 of them got certified as Huawei HCIA professionals with over 500+ university students also benefitting from Huawei’s free 5G training. 

Huawei’s Seeds for the Future Programme has benefitted 60 university students. This years’ programme will train 50 more, bringing the total number of beneficiaries to 110.