By Our Reporter
Huawei, a leading global ICT solutions provider, has announced the 2020 edition Seeds for the Future Program known as the “Sky Seeds for the Future” despite the COVID-19 pandemic.
The announcement was made by the Public Relations Manager Ms Lina Cao who emphasized that the company shall carry out the program this year through online/e-learning platforms.
Ms Cao encouraged universities in Uganda to recommend their students to take advantage of the world class training program aimed at equipping and nurturing students through exposing them to the latest industry technology trends.
The Seeds for the Future program started in Uganda in 2016 and has been ongoing since then. Every year the top 10 university students in ICT-related courses are selected for a study trip in China. Approximately 30,000 students have benefited directly from this program globally since its inception.
This year, however, the program is going to be different due to the effects of COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Seeds for the Future will be carried out online. It’s called the Huawei Sky Seeds for the Future. Just as the previous years, we have always had several activities such as student selection, interviews, closing ceremonies, two weeks training programs in China in the latest technology, it shall continue the same way this year but online. We are excited to add that the program this time round is open to more than 100 students. They will, among other things take part in training and exposure to 5G and cloud computing,” Ms. Lina Cao, the Public relations Manager of Huawei Uganda, explains.
She adds that; priority shall be given to outstanding undergraduates/graduates who have a strong interest in ICT, female students are strongly encouraged to apply and also those with vast ICT Knowledge of Huawei and understanding of China.
Out of the 30 plus students who have participated in the previous four years of the program in Uganda, approximately 22 have directly benefited from Huawei internship and job opportunities availed to them. For instance, Ms Cleopatra Ajambo who participated in the 2018 Huawei Seeds for the Future program has risen from just a computer science student to an IT network architect working with Huawei Uganda.
“As a Computer Science Student, you were expected to dig deep into programming as a major which was not, and is not most girls’ passion, so I found myself relying more on getting good grades than building a career as a problem solver,” says Cleoptra, whose goal for joining the Seeds for future
competition was to travel to China for exposure.
The program was launched by H.E Yoweri Museveni in 2016 and has been in partnership with the Ministry of Education and Ministry of ICT of Uganda.