Huawei, the global technology leader, has announced a new plan to train an additional 150,000 talents in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years.
This plan comes on top of Huawei’s initial goal to equip over 100,000 people in the region with digital skills by 2025. Remarkably, the company has already exceeded this initial target by 120%, training over 120,000 individuals in just 26 months – 10 months ahead of schedule.
Both the new and previous announcements were made at the LEAP Summit 2024: ICT Talent and Sustainable Development for Sub-Saharan Africa, co-hosted by Huawei and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) in Shanghai.
The LEAP Program
LEAP stands for leadership, employability, advancement and possibility. The event is an official partner program of Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2024, gathering over 200 guests including high-ranking ministers, ambassadors and government officials from across Sub-Saharan Africa.
In his opening address, Jeff Wang, Huawei’s Senior Vice President and President of Public Affairs and Communications, outlined the company’s inclusive, systematic and future-oriented approach to talent development. He said, “Huawei launched the LEAP Digital Talent Development Program in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. After more than two years of development, we are glad to see that so many people have benefited from it.”
Hover Gao, President of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa, commented on the progress so far, stating: “We have made much positive progress in talent development across African countries, but this would not have been possible without the joint efforts of government agencies, academia, and industry.”
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The Need for Digital Skills
There is a pressing need to equip talent in Sub-Saharan Africa with digital skills. According to the World Economic Forum, more than one billion people around the world need to be upskilled or reskilled by 2030. Furthermore, the International Financial Corporation predicts that over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.
Multilateral Collaboration
The LEAP Summit highlighted the importance of multilateral collaboration in addressing the digital skills gap. John OMO, Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), reiterated a human-first approach, stating: “Digital skills development and access to ICT is not about ICT, it’s about people. It’s about empowering people to participate sufficiently in the digital economy.”
Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, joined the program remotely to emphasize the need for a collaborative approach to upskilling workers and harnessing digital technologies for sustainable development.
Hon. Dr. Tatenda Annastacia Mavetera, Minister of Information Communication Technology, Postal and Courier Services in Zimbabwe, also spoke of the power of partnerships between governments, industries, leaders, academia, and civil society in unlocking the full potential of ICT.
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Huawei’s Initiatives
Huawei’s TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Initiative is a key pillar of the company’s Corporate Sustainable Development strategies. During the summit, Joyce Liu, Director of TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Office at Huawei, shared the progress of TECH4ALL in Sub-Saharan Africa, emphasizing the importance of a long-term perspective on how education can shape a more inclusive and sustainable future.
Huawei also launched a new Huawei Digital Intelligence Talent Development Program, which includes free Huawei Certificate courses and exam vouchers for the Huawei ICT Academy. Additionally, the Digital Badge program enables students and teachers who have attended Huawei ICT Academy programs to display their certifications on social media and use them to unlock future employment opportunities.
