At the tail of last month, Huawei Technologies announced a new plan to train an additional 150,000 people in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years. The announcement came after Huawei revealed during the LEAP Summit 2024 that it had exceeded (by 120%) its initial goal to equip over 100,000 people in the region with digital skills by 2025, training over 120,000 individuals over the past 26 months.
There is a pressing need to equip talent in Sub-Saharan Africa with digital skills. According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), more than one billion people worldwide must be upskilled or reskilled by 2030. Furthermore, the International Financial Corporation (IFC) estimates that over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.
“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,” said John OMO, Secretary-General of the African Telecommunications Union (ATU) during his opening speech at the LEAP Summit 2024.
While OMO reiterated a human-first approach to technology, he encouraged stakeholders to collectively participate in the effort to upskill to give the youth not just a future but also a present in which they can thrive.
Hon. Minister Counselor He Hongyan, Department of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, emphasized the importance of China-African talent cooperation as outlined in the China-Africa Cooperation 2035 —noting that LEAP is helping Africa build a pool of digital talent, boost its digital economy, bridge the digital divide, and boost and drive inclusive development.
Hon. Dr. Tatenda Annastacia Mavetera, Zimbabwe’s Minister of ICT, Postal and Courier Services said beyond the impressive ICT talent achievements on display, LEAP is a testament to the power of collaboration. “It is through partnerships between governments, industries, leaders, academia, and civil society that we unlock the full potential of ICT for the benefit of humanity,” she remarks.
In a video call, Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China highlighted the importance of a multilateral approach to addressing the digital skills gap and upskilling of workers. He hoped that these efforts could help people everywhere better harness digital technologies, narrow the skill gap, and create sustained prosperity along with sustainable development, all of which are essential to achieving sustainable development goals.
Huawei launched its Leadership, Employability, Advancement, and Possibilities (LEAP) digital skills 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 this program,” said Jeff Wang, Senior VP, President of Public Affairs and Communications at Huawei.
The program aims to foster a strong digital leadership and skilled ICT workforce, build a digital talent pool, and promote digital literacy among citizens. It also includes a range of activities from ICT training & certification courses to government digital capacity building, and ICT skills competitions.
Hover Gao, President of Sub-Saharan Africa, Huawei, noted that they have made much positive progress in talent development across African countries thanks to collaborations with government agencies, academia, and industries in respective countries.
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During the summit, Huawei and its partners launched a series of activities for digital talent development in Sub-Saharan Africa.
Steven Fan, Director of Huawei’s Training and Certification Department, released a new Huawei Digital Intelligence Talent Development Program. This initiative includes free Huawei Certificate courses and exam vouchers for the Huawei ICT Academy and outstanding personnel.
They also announced the Digital Badge program that enables students and teachers who have attended Huawei ICT Academy programs to display their certifications on their social media platforms and unlock employment opportunities.
Notably, the TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Initiative is one of the key pillars of Huawei’s Corporate Sustainable Development strategies.
During the summit, Joyce Liu, Director of TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Office at Huawei, said, “We must take a long-term perspective on how education can help shape a more inclusive and sustainable future, building connectivity for schools, improving capabilities for people, and supporting STEM content development for digital upskilling and reskilling.”
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