Huawei training 1,000 South Africans in China
Fri 22 Jul 2016
In an agreement signed this week between Huawei and the government of South Africa, an investment by the Chinese telecommunications company will bring 1,000 South African students to China over the next five years to participate in a new training program. The students will be trained in telecommunications networking, cloud computing, and big data.
The announcement was made at the opening of Huawei’s new Innovation and Experience Center in Johannesburg, the first in Africa. The agreement between Huawei and South Africa’s Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services (DTPS) covers three key areas: capacity building, the Innovation Center, and talent training. It also coincides with Huawei joining the Smart Africa Alliance as Information and Communications Technologies (ICT) advisor and Platinum member at the Smart Africa Board Meeting.
Telecommunications Services Minister Siyabonga Cwele said that the training opportunity that will be presented to the youth of South Africa is “expected to help enhance the department’s strategies to implement our programs, including the roll-out of broadband and lowering the cost to communicate.” He also advised the students who are selected to travel to China for training to take advantage of the opportunity, and to “come back and develop ICT solutions that will answer some South African challenges.”
The Innovation Center in Johannesburg is the seventh worldwide for Huawei. In addition to housing exhibitions of Huawei products, it will serve as an open lab for university students and a space to share new ideas for computing and telecommunications solutions. The Center also provides 40 permanent jobs, in addition to the existing 1200 employees of Huawei in South Africa.
Li Peng, President of the East and Southern Africa for Huawei, said, “It is very exciting for us as industry leaders to provide a community environment … and for SMME’s to gain opportunities to share their ideas in spaces like gaming, video, and app development; where they can test and advance their solutions and gain exposure to various partnership opportunities.”
Huawei also announced this week that it will bring 20 American students to China for a two-week work experience and cultural exchange, to support STEM education in the United States.
