Gov't advocates for collaboration in ICT training to spur industry growth

Moses Wetangula, the Speaker of the National Assembly who was the chief guest during the launch commended Huawei for the PPP partnership and their immense contribution to the Kenyan technological space as well as for hosting the competition for transforming the lives of Kenyan youths.

“Over the past decade, the Huawei ICT competition has become a cornerstone of ICT excellence, enabling young Kenyans showcase their talent, sharpen their skills and make their mark on the global stage,” noted Hon. Wetangula.

He reiterated that the Parliament would continue providing support through legislation and policy frameworks and regulations to foster the growth of ICT and innovation in the country and foster an environment for young innovators to thrive.

The Principal Secretary (PS) of the State Department of Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Dr. Esther Muoria highlighted the impact of the public-private partnership between Huawei and the Government of Kenya on education and youth empowerment.

“We in TVET are about engaging with the private sector pragmatically because it is about training and industry,” stated Dr. Muoria adding that the TVET are in the business of training the youths with a positive end in mind.

She lauded the competition for providing an environment that is practical and competitively suited for trainers and trainees as well as bridging the gap between academic training and the real workplace.

Dr. Muoria further reiterated that the Ministry of Education through the TVET State Department is committed to advancing ICT causes in technical institutions and that they will support collaborations between academia and the industries, terming the competition as an investment in the youth’s ability of creating, competing and contributing to national development.

On the constant changing environment of artificial intelligence and the need for Kenya to embrace it, the PS for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Korir Sing’oei called on youths to develop skills in AI as most companies are embracing automation.

“I want to implore our young people and those not so young like myself to still develop AI skills. We’re told that you know, almost 40% of the jobs that we currently do, particularly those that are capable of automation, will at the very near future, ceast to exist,” said PS Korir.

He lauded Huawei for the competition and for supporting the government’s capacity building objectives as well as students for stepping up to take part in the opportunities being offered.

UNESCO’s representative and Programme Specialist in charge of Social and Human Sciences, Dr. Hugue Ngandeu lauded the Asian tech giant for shaping the technological landscape through such initiatives as well as reaffirming the organization’s support for the competition.

“Educational system must adapt to meet the  growing demand for digital skills in the competitive and fast transforming economy,” said Dr. Ngandeu. He further lauded Kenya’s leadership in innovation across sub-Saharan Africa but noted gaps and shortages in the age of AI as there continues to be a rise in the industry needing experts to help them with the journey of integrating AI and ICT in their operations and as solutions to societal challenges, citing the competition as an initiative under UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy, addressing the arising issues.

Technical University of Kenya’s Vice Chancellor Professor Benedict Mutua lauded Huawei and the competition for enabling over 150 students from the university to be self-sufficient through the skills they gained from the program. He also reiterated the university’s commitment to adapting competitive-based learning into their academic programmes.

“We see this as a platform that is going to strengthen our expertise in emerging technologies and they’re quite a number,” said Prof Mutua further lauding the youth for being the core drivers of the Fourth Industrial Revolution calling on them to not only be consumers but innovators and creators of technological solutions.

Mr. Yuta Leng who is the director of Public Affairs at Huawei lauded the governments and institutions for partnering with the Asian tech giant and for the investments they’ve made to the competition.

“We worked so closely with the Kenyan government and also local universities and TVETs and we thank the students, the lecturers for participating in the ICT competition and supporting the competition and this is the 10th edition of the competition this year. So, I say good luck,” remarked Mr. Leng as he wished the participants well.

The ICT competition has been lauded as an initiative that has strengthened relations between Kenya and China as well as providing opportunities of advancement to Kenyan youth.

“It is a commitment between the government of China and the government of Kenya to have a partnership to develop skills, train students and give opportunities to the youth,” said Khadija Mohammed, Huawei’s Media Director stating that the competition is not only a competition but a commitment between the two governments to focus on the development of Kenyan youth. 

She called on students from universities and technical training institutions to apply as it is an avenue for them to develop their skills and gain requisite experience to spearhead the digital revolution, further lauding the gov’t for their efforts to champion for youth empowerment.

According to Huawei’s ICT Lead, Mr. Michael Kamau, the aim of the competition is to promote competition-based learning as well as collaboration between the industry through academia.

“First, the competition has three levels of advancement and we’re going to have the registration after the launch has happened today and then we will have preliminary knockoff rounds in November (of 2025) and then the national final will be in December,” said Kamau as he detailed the schedule of the competition. 

He mentioned that the regional finals which will be on February 2026 will happen in South Africa, and the competition will conclude with a global finale in Shenzhen, China. He stated that there are over three categories with six different tracks, with students being given the liberty to choose the track they will participate in based on their interests.

Embracing a practical approach to shortlisting participants through an 8-hour exam at the preliminary stages, Huawei shortlists 300 students from the national level and provides them with necessary resources and trainings from in-house experts at each stage all the way to the finals with participants who emerge victorious at each stage, absorbed into the Huawei workforce and that of their talent partners.

The launch of the 10th edition comes just three months after a delegation of Kenyan university students scooped awards at the 9th edition of the global competition held in Shenzhen, China where Kenyan female students made history by scooping awards in several STEM oriented categories.