Huawei ICT competition in Kenya wraps up

11 students win Huawei ICT competition in Kenya

The first Huawei 2018 Global ICT Skills Competition in Kenya came to a close Wednesday with 11 top students emerging as national winners. Six of them from four local universities -- Jomo Kenyatta University of Technology (JKUAT), Meru University, University of Nairobi and Zetech University -- are now slated to attend the competition's regional round to be held in South Africa at the end of the month. If they succeed, they will head to China on a fully sponsored trip for the global finals that will involve candidates from over 50 countries.

The competition, launched in July this year, saw more than 4,000 information technology students register at the preliminary stages from 40 universities across the country. Of these, 600 were selected for training after a competitive selection process, after which the top 100 then underwent further coaching at a boot camp session before sitting for the nationwide exams.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Li Xuhang, charge d'affaires for the Chinese embassy in Kenya, urged Kenyan ICT students to leverage ICT to create miracles just like what Huawei and Alibaba have achieved in China and across the globe.

"To empower the youth is to empower the whole nation. I encourage all the young students to grasp opportunities presented by innovative technologies such as ICT to nurture homegrown global companies in Kenya. I also wish that they become ambassadors of friendly relations between Kenya and China, as the two countries are set to mark their 55th anniversary of diplomatic ties in December this year," he said.

Launched in 2015, the competition invites information and communication technology students from all over the world to test their ICT capabilities, and provides a platform for the exchange of skills and experiences.

"Huawei has demonstrated its commitment to leading digital transformation in Kenya through investing in young people by empowering them with the necessary knowledge and providing them with platforms and opportunities to sharpen their IT skills," said Jerome Ochieng, principal secretary in the Ministry of ICT.

"We continue to work together to leverage technologies as catalyzing powers of the Big Four Agenda, such as precision agriculture for food security, smart and technologically ready homes for affordable housing, and connected hospitals for universal healthcare," he added.

The Huawei ICT competition is a platform for the Huawei Authorized Information and Network Academy (HAINA), a certified program that provides the latest technical training and certifications to students through lectures on the Huawei Certified Network Associate – Routing and Switching (HCNA-R&S).

Kennedy Muthaura from Zetech University emerged as the champion of the national final.