- 0ver 100,000 youth and students to benefit
Huawei Ghana, a lead provider of information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure and smart devices in the country, has officially launched its Leadership, Employability, Advancement and Possibility (LEAP) Programme, to train and create job opportunities for Ghanaians in the field of ICT.
The two-year duration LEAP programme is expected to leapfrog Ghana into a bright digital future with 100,000 plus ICT talents by 2024. This initiative was also launched concurrently with an ICT Job Fair that will be held annually to link talents in the sector with job owners.
According to management of Huawei Ghana, the LEAP programme will forge a collaboration between government, industry and academia to create a seamless transition ecosystem for the initiative to thrive and achieve the intended success.
The Southern Africa Regional President of Huawei, Yang Chen, explained that his outfit has made special arrangements and commitments specifically dedicated to Ghana over the next two years, that is by 2024, in the four key layers of the LEAP programme.
In the first component of the programme, Digital Leadership, Huawei indicated that it will offer training to 1,000 plus Government Officials and Civil Servants in the digital economy, smart Ghana development and ICT policy training among others.
The second component – Employability – will deal with training industry professionals to equip them for the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) through leading industry technologies and hands-on practice. This is expected to offer 2,000 plus internships and job opportunities, and 1,000 plus hands-on trainings for partners and sub-contractors.
Thirdly, in the area of Advancement, Huawei is committed to training 5,000-plus tertiary instructors and students through its ICT Academy, ICT completion and Seed for The Future initiatives which are already in existence and expected to scale up.
Finally, in terms of Possibility, Huawei believes it has built a clear roadmap with key milestones to achieve the goals, because it has invested a lot into resources over the years. Notable among these investments is included the availability of teacher resources through the ‘Train the Trainers Programme’, which equipped 100 instructors in Ghana – taking the total number of instructors accessible to Ghanaians to 1300. In the terms of local content development, there are over 3,000 courses under five catalogues spanning from 5G, AI, Cloud and IoT, to big data and cybersecurity. And in terms of training facilities investment, it has ICT academies and also partnered with and equipped the MPI Training Centre at East Legon, Accra, to offer practical training for field engineers.
Managing Director-Huawei Ghana, Tommy Zhou, in his address stated that the LEAP Programme together with the ICT job fair is another step by Huawei toward its commitment to grow with Ghana through the development of Ghana’s ICT talent to propel digital sustainability.
“We believe the most important investment is in people. Therefore, we believe that for Ghana to become the ICT hub in West Africa, the most important resource that will bring this vision to fruition is Human capital.
“In the past two years alone, we have widened our digital literacy net; and through strategic partnerships with key government ministries, agencies and private institutions, over 50,000 Ghanaian women received some form of ICT and Digital literacy training through our Women in Tech programme in Ghana as well,” he said.
Minister for communication and Digitalisation, and Special Guest at the LEAP launch, Ursula Owusu Ekuful emphasised technology can empower people and open up economies – citing the crucial role digital technologies played in combatting the recent pandemic, and the role it continues to play in reviving the Ghanaian economy just like others around the globe.
“The world is in a digital era, and every country, including Ghana, is working to have a thriving digital economy that is crisis resilient. The government of Ghana has been prioritising digitalisation over the past few years, and this is evident in the many reforms and initiatives surrounding us.
“We are grateful to Huawei for this initiative because it will enable us to grow our economy. Government has the vision to nurture young entrepreneurs and create job opportunities for youth in ICT and the digital space,” she said.
The Minister of Digitalisation further stated that digital innovation in Ghana is far-advanced and being studied by other countries in the sub-region; hence, the country is gradually becoming a hub for digital and technological businesses in the sub-region.
She reiterated that the future is digital, and this is a key lesson we learned from the pandemic. She therefore cautioned businesses against being too conservative as it will kill their current thriving businesses, hence the need to constantly innovate and adopt digital tools that will create new jobs for the country’s youth.
The minister also urged businesses to consider gender equality in their selection process as they employ students from the job fair. Again, she urged the students and youth to challenge themselves, stay focused and be more mindful of acquiring skills than money and conditions of service at this stage of life.
“To the women, believe in yourself and strive to be better always; and develop your skills, for the future of digitalisation is female,” she concluded.
