Shenzhen, China: Teams of ICT students from Kenya performed strongly at the Global Final, highlighting the rapid development of digital skills in the country. A combined team of ICT students from Kenya’s Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Machakos University secured First Prize in the Computing track at the Global Final.
Combined teams from Machakos University, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and the University of Nairobi won Second Prize in the Network track, while the team from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology and Moi University secured Second Prize in the Cloud track. The ‘Silicon Savannah’ team from Egerton University won the Third Prize in the Innovation track for their Smart Air Quality Monitoring System. This achievement highlights the growth of ICT talent in Kenya.
“Thank you Huawei for the opportunity and Congratulations TEAM Kenya (Lecturers and students) for the resounding victory and more grace as we explore and nurture the expertise for the betterment of our beloved country. More grace to you, Comrades and friends,” remarked Fikirini Jackobs, the Principal Secretary State Department, Youth Affairs and Creative Economy, Ministry of Youth Affairs, Creative Economy and Sports during the competitions award ceremony held on Saturday, 24th May 2025 in Shenzhen, China.
Kenyan Ambassador to China H.E Willy Bett, Khadija Mohammed, Lutta Yeng from HUAWEI Kenya, Albert Ombiro— Kenyan Education Attachè to China, Mr. Philip Oyier and Miss Wairimu Gichaiya (JKUAT), Miss Patricia Gitonga (UoN) and Mr. Franklin Mutisya (Machakos University) were part of the Kenyan delegation behind the 12-member Kenyan team that participated in the Huawei ICT Competition Global Finals that began on Tuesday, 20th May.
Universities and students from across the Southern Africa region showcased the talents at the Global Final, underscoring the rapid development of digital skills in the Southern Africa region. Teams from countries including Cameroon, Ghana, Madagascar, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda demonstrated their advanced skills by winning multiple awards across competition tracks such as Network, Cloud, Computing, and Innovation.
In his opening address during the finals, Ritchie Peng, Director of the ICT Strategy & Business Development Dept at Huawei, said, “To achieve the goal of learning through competition and inspiring innovation through competition, we have continuously evolved the design of competition topics. The Practice Competition aligns with our vision for an Intelligent World 2030 and encourages students to master cloud computing, big data, and AI to drive social progress. The Innovation Competition focuses on green development and digital inclusion, motivating participants to solve real-world challenges in sectors like agriculture, healthcare, and education through ICT.”
Digital Transformation in Education
Huawei has a professional team dedicated to serving the education industry. Huawei supports an innovative teaching model that combines hands-on practice and training with real-world industry scenarios, allowing students to access industry-leading digital technologies and adapt to the requirements of future potential employers while they are still at school.
Huawei provides the student-centric
Smart Classroom Solution for hybrid teaching models in collaboration with partners’ teaching management systems. This solution uses IdeaHub, Huawei’s smart and interactive display, as a gateway to classrooms, and takes advantage of high-quality campus networks and Huawei Cloud’s CloudVC video conferencing solution with global availability. The solution leverages an AI model for education to provide intelligent features such as knowledge graph, AI agent Q&A, and comprehensive teaching analytics. These features enhance teaching accuracy and learning efficiency.
About the Huawei ICT Competition
The Huawei ICT Competition 2024-2025 marks the 10th year of this global event. Since its launch in 2015, the competition has grown significantly, providing an international platform for over 960,000 students from 2,000 learning institutions in over 100 countries and regions to strengthen their ICT knowledge, improve practical skills, and foster innovation. The 2024-2025 competition is the biggest so far, attracting more than 210,000 students from colleges and universities across more than 80 countries and regions. Following national and regional competitions, 179 teams from 48 countries and regions made it to the Global Final. The competition is recognised as a key partner flagship program by UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy.
18 of Huawei’s ICT Academy Most Valuable Instructor’s presented the work which led to their awards at the summit. The MVI award aims to show gratitude for the important contributions these instructors have made to talent development, and mark them as role models that show how the brightest minds can develop even brighter minds. These role models will help drive sustainable development of the ICT talent ecosystem.
ICT Academy in Southern Africa Region
In 2016, Huawei launched the ICT Academy program in Kenya, partnering with over 50 universities and colleges across the country. These institutions offer training in various ICT fields, including routing and switching, cloud computing, IP, IT, 5G, and AI.
As of 2024, Huawei has established ICT academies in more than 478 institutions across Southern Africa, including countries like Kenya, South Africa, Zambia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Malawi, and Namibia. This initiative has reached over 100,000 students and 1,500 teachers in the region.
In Kenya, the program has trained over 12,000 students and more than 320 lecturers. Annually, these academies train over 4,000 students, contributing significantly to the ICT skills landscape. Through this initiative, Huawei is fostering a skilled workforce ready to meet the demands of the digital economy.For more details about the Huawei ICT Competition, visit us at https://www.huawei.com/minisite/ict-competition-2024-2025 global/en/index.html.
