LEAP to train thousands on digital skills

by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – HUAWEI aims to train an additional 150 000 talents in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years.

The plan comes on top of the information and communications technology leader’s initial goal to equip over 100 000 people in the region with digital skills by 2025.

Huawei has already exceeded its initial goal by 120 percent, 10 months ahead of schedule. This after training over 120 000 individuals over the past 26 months.

Both announcements were made at the LEAP (leadership, employability, advancement and possibility) Summit 2024: ICT Talent and Sustainable Development for Sub-Saharan Africa.

The event, co-hosted by Huawei and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), is an official partner programme of Mobile World Congress Shanghai 2024.

Huawei and ATU gathered over 200 guests for the LEAP Summit 2024.

Among them were high ranking ministers, ambassadors and other government officials in the Sub-Saharan region.

Jeff Wang, Senior Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications at Huawei, outlined the company’s approach to inclusive, systematic and future-oriented talent development.

Huawei launched the LEAP Digital Talent Development Program in Sub-Saharan Africa since 2022.

After more than two years of development, we are glad to see that so many people have benefited from it,” Wang said.

Hover Gao, President of Sub-Saharan Africa, Huawei, said: “We have made much positive progress in talent development across African countries, but this would not have been possible without the joint efforts of government agencies, academia, and industry.”

African Telecommunications Union (ATU) welcomes the human-first approach to technology.

“Digital skills development and access to ICT is not about ICT, it’s about people. It’s about empowering people to participate sufficiently in the digital economy,” said John Omo, Secretary General of ATU.

He Hongyan, Department of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of China, emphasized the importance of talent cooperation as outlined in the China-Africa Cooperation 2035.

“LEAP is helping Africa build a pool of digital talent, boost its digital economy, bridge the digital divide and boost and drive inclusive development,” Hongyan said.

Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, highlighted the importance of a multilateral approach to addressing the digital skills gap and upskilling of workers.

“We hope these efforts can help people everywhere better harness digital technologies, narrow the skill gap and create a sustained prosperity along with sustainable development, all of which are essential to achieving the sustainable development goals,” he said.

According to the World Economic Forum (WEF), more than 1 billion people around the world need to be upskilled or reskilled by 2030.

The International Financial Corporation estimates that over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.

– CAJ News