Chinese firm partners Government to drive ICT revolution

CHINESE giant company, Huawei Technologies, has continued to partner with the Government to drive information communication technology (ICT) investments and growth in Zimbabwe.

The partnership is part of collaborative solutions to bridge the gap in new technology investments, as well as developing professional skills in the sector.

Zimbabwe is pushing towards fostering inclusive, sustainable socio-economic development in line with the country’s Vision 2030 ideals and ICTs are expected to play a key role in that regard.

Under the partnership, Huawei Technologies has developed a number of frameworks that seek to strengthen their relationships with local universities and students and help promote ICT talent development.

The frameworks include the Huawei ICT Academy, Huawei ICT Talent Ecosystem and Huawei Seeds for the Future programmes.

The partnership between Government and Huawei allows higher learning institutions to become Huawei ICT Academies, and offer professional ICT certifications in courses such as ‘routing and switching, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, internet of things and many more.

The deal extends to training instructors nominated by each institution, who upon completion of the training become certified trainers, licensed to offer the Huawei certification programmes.

Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services, Dr Jenfan Muswere, said the partnership contributes greatly to the country’s digital revolution.

He was speaking at the official launch of the Huawei Seeds for the Future 2022 Programme in Harare on Monday,

“Huawei Technologies, in partnership with the Government and other players, has contributed immensely to this modern ICT revolution and for that we are grateful,” said Muswere.

“ICTs are crucial drivers for inclusive, sustainable social and economic development. In our quest to become an advanced digitally propellednation by the year 2030, Zimbabwe has developed an ambitious ICT blue-print that will enable it to fully utilise technology and innovation in order turn around its economy.”
Over the last two decades, Dr Muswere said Zimbabwe has been thriving to develop a viable ICT infrastructure to reinforce robust economic development in a sustainable manner.

“Zimbabwe has built thousands of base stations, including hundreds of 4G base stations,” he said.
The minister, however, said the country still faces key challenges in growing the ICT sector, which are manifested in low investment in new technologies and the lack of a large pool of skilled ICT professionals.

Given this challenge, he said the Huawei Technologies Zimbabwe partnership would enhance skills development as a priority foster improved connectivity in Zimbabwe.

“It is pleasing to note that Huawei Technologies Zimbabwe has made supporting skills development one of their key priorities for building a better-connected Zimbabwe,” said the minister.

He said the launch of the Zimbabwe Seeds for the Future 2022 programme is in line with ministry’s digitisation strategy and is another innovative initiative by Huawei to identify and develop talent in ICT.

“The programme helps cultivate and pool together ICT professionals and students, thus boosting ICT industry growth, driving the development of different sectors and contributing to lower unemployment rates over the long-term,” he said.

“We are grateful to Huawei Technologies for this initiative.”-chronci.cl.zw