President William Ruto has said Kenya is steadily positioning itself as one of the world’s leading sources of digital talent.
The President cited growing investments by global technology companies and increased focus on digital skills development.
Ruto said Kenya’s digital transformation agenda was creating opportunities for young people while strengthening the country’s position in the global technology ecosystem.
Ruto was speaking during the award ceremony for the winners of the 2026 Global Huawei ICT Competition and the launch of the 11th edition of the competition.
The event was attended by Guo Haiyan, Ambassador of the People’s Republic of China to Kenya.
Ruto said continued investments by major technology companies operating in the country reflect the confidence in Kenya’s digital potential.
"Huawei has become a valued partner in developing digital skills through ICT academies. Microsoft has established its Africa Development Centre in Nairobi. Amazon Web Services continues expanding its presence, while Apple and many other technology companies are partnering with Kenyan institutions to develop advanced digital capabilities," he said.
The President said these partnerships complement the work being undertaken by Kenyan universities and centres of excellence, whose graduates are increasingly gaining recognition globally.
He highlighted institutions including Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, the University of Nairobi, Moi University, Strathmore University and the African Advanced Level Telecommunications Institute as key contributors to the country's growing pool of digital professionals.
"As Government, we have matched these partnerships with deliberate investments," Ruto said.
He said that through the Digital Superhighway Programme, the government has deployed an additional 37,000 kilometres of fibre optic cable, established hundreds of digital hubs, trained more than 1.9 million Kenyans in digital skills and supported the creation of more than 350,000 digital jobs.
Ruto said the government’s goal was to create an ecosystem where education, research, innovation, entrepreneurship and industry work together to drive economic growth.
"Our objective is to build an ecosystem where education, research, innovation, entrepreneurship, and industry reinforce one another; where classrooms connect to laboratories, laboratories to start-ups, start-ups to industry and industry to global markets," he said.
The President also celebrated Kenya’s performance at the 2026 Global Huawei ICT Competition, describing the event as the largest ICT skills competition in the world.
The competition attracted more than 220,000 participants from over 2,000 institutions across more than 100 countries. Only 177 teams from 49 countries qualified for the global finals held in Shenzhen, China.
Kenya’s Cloud Track Team emerged as the biggest winner after securing the Grand Prize, the highest award in the competition. It was Kenya’s first Grand Prize since joining the contest in 2019.
Ruto said the achievement demonstrated that Kenyan youth possess the skills needed to compete in emerging technologies such as cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data and digital infrastructure.
"Their achievement in cloud computing, artificial intelligence, big data, and digital infrastructure is a signal that Kenya possesses the talent required to build the cloud infrastructure, data centres and AI capabilities that will power our digital economy," he said
The President said continued investment in digital skills would be central to Kenya’s ambition of becoming a leading technology hub in Africa and connecting young innovators to opportunities in global markets.
