Leading mobile telecommunications maker Huawei has now partnered with universities to train students on the various technologies as one way of preparing them to the job market.
Under the program, Seed for the Future, 28 universities in Kenya have been enrolled where the company has set up ICT academies to help students understanding the changing global technologies.
The move will see students willing to further their ICT studies join lessons for free and there after the best are selected for an internship program in China.
This emerged when the company hosted more than 200 youths who are beneficiaries of the program at the Lake Naivasha Resort.
Addressing the press, Huawei Chief Public Relations Officer Dalmar Abdi said the programme had seen various groups of cohorts sent to China for training.
Abdi said once the students joined the academies, they were selected on merit and trained for a period of one year in various Huawei companies in the region.
“We have decided to partner with universities and help students become self reliant as opposed to the usual employment whose opportunities are dwindling in the country,” he said.
He said to date more that 300 youths from various universities have joined the academies across the country and received a certificate.
“We have made plans to expand to other universities and colleges as we want to impart the necessary knowledge required with advancing technologies,” he said.
Abdi at the same time called on the youths to embrace technology as a means of growth noting that there were unlimited opportunities in the sector.
A beneficiary of the program Duncan Muchiri said they were picked and trained on new technologies that had helped them advance their careers.
Muchiri who works as an assistant Engineer at Huawei said the cohorts dubbed graduate management trainee program helped them work with experts on the ground to gain the necessary experience for a changing world.
“Huawei took us to China to work in multi nationals without looking at our experiences and this assisted us to become what we are today”.
His sentiments were echoed by another beneficiary Wendy Ombima a technology consultant who said the program helped them move away from employment mentality.
“I was a beneficiary of the program in 2015 and was trained to be a software engineer although later I progressed to project management consultant for technology products”.
“The ideology that one can only earn a living through employment is outdated the youths need to be pro-active to find solutions by embracing technology”.
