President Xi Jinping’s State visit to China earlier this month attracted global attention and highlighted the importance of the partnership between Zimbabwe and China, particularly in the field of information and communications technology.
Throughout his trip, Huawei Technologies Company Ltd – emerged as a front-runner in that work to cement relations between the two countries, as they build their own “Silicon Valley” in Shenzhen.
This October,Huawei Zimbabwe sponsored 10 excellent Zimbabwe ICT students from different provinces and different universities including Zimbabwe Open University (ZOU), Harare Institute Of Technology (HIT), Midlands State University (MSU), Chinhoyi University Of Technology (CUT), National University of Science and Technology (NUST), a trip to Beijing and Shenzhen to receive such training.
What makes this program unique is that it offers first-hand learning opportunities through interactions with Huawei experts and visits to Huawei labs. The seeds can gain hands-on practice, witness live demonstrations of the latest ICT technologies, and attend workshops where they can meet Huawei’s senior executives and experts. Through work placements in Huawei’s business departments, our seeds can gain exposure to Huawei’s global business operations and cross-cultural management practices.
The seeds had their debut on the Dec 5, 2015 in HICC in the ceremony of 2015 ICT Achiever’s Awards when Huawei was awarded with the special Ministerial award for contribution to ICT’s growth in Zimbabwe for his fast delivery for the NetOne MBB project to set up the largest 4G network in Zimbabwe and his contribution for training the future ICT talents in Zimbabwe.
Romeo Arumando Shava, the representative of the 10 Zimbabwe Seeds made a presentation to introduce the sponsor training program and to demonstrate to the audience what ICT knowledge they have learned in Huawei HQ in Shenzhen, China. They also showed their contribution of the thesis that each students wrote about how ICT will enable the development of different industries, to boost the social-economic development in Zimbabwe.
While President Mugabe took the state visit to China in August, 2014, he did not get a chance to see the facility first hand. His Excellency however did meet with Huawei Senior Vice President Dafeng Li during his visit to China and graced Huawei’s global flagship talent development programme called Zimbabwe Seeds for the Future. The Seeds for the Future program seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfers, and improve people’s understanding of and interest in the ICT industry. It also encourages countries across different regions to participate in building digital society.
The ICT sector in Zimbabwe has much to benefit from the experience that Huawei brings in terms of education. Huawei recognises this and places importance on education as seen in this Future talent development programme, that focuses on educating and engaging current and future generations in technological advancement and know-how.
“It is very important for us to support a new generation of scientists and researchers at universities in Zimbabwe, who can develop new ideas and discover new ways of making life better for people,” said Mr Albert Yang. “Through our dedicated effort and commitment to the Zimbabwe market, we endeavor to work with local government and our business partners towards improved network quality, affordable rates and more value-added services for the benefit of the people of Zimbabwe”.
Founded in 1987, Huawei has grown from a US$5,680 small firm to leading global company with sales of US$46.5 billion in 2014.
As the world’s largest telecommunication and ICT solutions provider, Huawei serves 45 of world’s top 50 telecom operators. Its products and solutions are benefiting one third of the world’s population.
With the joint effort of 170,000 employees in more than 170 countries, Huawei is ranked 285th of the Fortune 500 companies. It has 14 regional headquarters, 16 R&D centres, 31 joint innovation centres and 45 training centres worldwide, creating maximum value for telecom operators, enterprises and consumers by providing competitive solutions and services.
Contributing to the sustainable development of the society, economy, and the environment, Huawei Technologies creates green solutions that enable customers to reduce power consumption, carbon emissions and resource costs.
Huawei envisions “an efficient and integrated digital logistics system which will enhance interconnectivity and interactivity – between people and people, people and things, and things and things “and hopes to “bridge the digital divide and promote high-quality broadband and connectivity for all”. This connectivity would result in the creation of new platforms of communicating and living at consumer level and down to even the way business is conducted – a better, faster more efficient way.
Research and Development (R&D) is at the core of Huawei’s work in Shenzhen and indeed is the brain where those innovation comes from and goes to benefit peoples around the world.