Vice President Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has reiterated the Nana Akufo-Addo government’s determination to transform Ghana’s economy through the use of Information Communication Technology in all spheres of national life.

Government is thus keen to provide opportunities for Ghanaians, especially students, to acquire cutting edge knowledge in ICT to drive the digitisation agenda and improve the life of the ordinary citizen.

Vice President Bawumia assured of government’s commitment to ICT education when he met the 2017 and 2018 batches of the Huawei Ghana Seeds for the Future Programme at the Jubilee House, Accra on Friday 18th May, 2018.

Initiated in 2008, the Seeds for the Future Programme is Huawei’s most heavily invested global corporate social responsibility (CSR) activity. The programme was launched in Ghana in 2015 and 45 Ghanaian students have participated so far.

The programme seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the ICT sector and improve, encourage regional building and participation in the digital community, according to officials of Huawei.

The 10 students of the 2018 batch will undergo a 2 week programme in Beijing and the high-tech manufacturing hub, Shenzhen where they will study cutting-edge information and telecommunication technologies at Huawei HQ Training Centre.

Huawei will share its ICT expertise and experience in managing a multinational corporation with the young ICT professionals and help fuel the development of local ICT industries.

Outlining some ongoing ICT-based reforms being undertaken by Government, including the implementation of a paperless system at the ports, a National Digital Property Addressing System, Mobile Money Interoperability Payment System, the soon-to-be-issued National ID Card and plans to digitise all land records, Vice President Bawumia said it was important to also train the human resource to fully implement the digitisation agenda.

Vice President Bawumia expressed Government’s appreciation to Huawei and called on other companies to emulate their example of offering training to Ghanaian youth, who will make up the workforce in a few years.

Chief Executive Officer of the Huawei Ghana, Tommy Zhou, said Ghana has great talents in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector and Huawei will continue to support in unearthing these talents.

2018 Beneficiaries of Seeds for the Future Programme

A total of 10 Ghanaian students have been selected to benefit from ICT education in China. The students are Ebenezer Abuening Frimpong, University of Ghana, Onassis Kwesi Quarshie, UCMS, Procurement and Supply Chain Management, Deborah Tettehkie Amanor, KNUST, Telecom Engineering, Desmond Kwaku Duah, GTUC, Information Technology, Egyir Kwaku Biney, KNUST, Electrical Engineering, Ida Padikuor Na-Tei, KNUST, Electrical Engineering, Daniel Ntim, UCC, Information Technology, Stacia Bello, Wisconsin Information Technology, Kofi Speaking Ntiamoah, UCC, Commerce Management and Alfred Sarpong Adjei, KNUST, Computer Engineering.

Seeds for the Future

Seeds for the Future is a global Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) flagship program of Huawei. It is the most heavily invested CSR activity of the company and has pledged to continue to invest in the program over the long term.

Initiated by Huawei in 2008, the program seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the telecommunications sector, and improve and encourage regional building and participation in the digital community.

Up to the end of 2016, the program had been implemented in 96 countries and international organization worldwide, benefiting over 30,000 students from 280 universities; among them, more than 2,700 university students from all over the world have taken a study trip to the Huawei headquarters.