Huawei is set to invest $150m in digital talent development over the next five years, the tech giant disclosed on Thursday, adding that the programme will benefit about three million youths.
“Today, we are announcing Huawei’s Seeds for the Future Program 2.0. As part of our commitment to continuously develop talent, we will invest $150m in this programme over the next five years and help students and young people improve their digital skills. This programme is expected to benefit another three million people,” Huawei’s Chairman, Liang Hua, disclosed to Financial Street.
In 2008, the company began to expand its talent development programmes, through scholarships, technology competitions and digital skills training. It invested more than $150m in the programmes.
Huawei has also tremendously benefited more than 1.54 million people from over 150 countries, it added.
The Seeds for the Future is a programme that aims to help cultivate young talents around the world, providing them with training from Information and Communications Technology experts on the latest technology to help them develop the skills and mindsets needed to be competitive in the workplaces of the future, it also stated.
Introduced to Africa in 2014, the programme has benefited nearly 2,000 students in more than 25 African countries, even as the programme and Huawei’s efforts in ICT talent development have been recognised by many African governments.
The Nigerian Minister of Communications and Digital Economy, Dr Isa Pantami, said, “Nigeria is positioning to be the continent’s leader in digitalisation. Burkina Faso already has a ministry of digital economy, but we have so many advantages.”
The advantages, according to him, include the country’s population and location, the contribution of ICT to Gross Domestic Product, and the level of ICT literacy among Nigerians.
Pantami hinted that the government would, henceforth, be proactive in the ICT through effective application of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things, Robotics and Virtual Reality.
He said, in a few years, Nigerians might no longer need to travel to India or other foreign countries for medical treatment, as surgeries could be performed on patients anywhere in the world by means of 5G technology.
Urging the 10 Nigerian students selected from different institutions for the Huawei internship programme to see themselves as future entrepreneurs to make the best of the opportunity, the minister said, “ICT has the potential of employing and lifting millions of Nigerians out of poverty.”
Nigeria has the largest population in Africa, the Managing Director of Huawei Technologies Nigeria Limited, Mr Trevor Liu, noted.
“These youths are the continent’s greatest resource, which will power the economy in the future. Huawei partners with Nigerian governments, educational institutes and industry to equip the future leaders with the latest knowledge at the highest global level and provide them opportunities to apply the knowledge to achieve a better future for the continent,” Liu added.
