Huawei announced a new plan to train an additional
150,000 talents in Sub-Saharan Africa over the next three years. The plan comes on top of
the ICT 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%, 10 months ahead of schedule,
training over 120,000 individuals over the past 26 months. Both announcements were made
at the LEAP Summit 2024: ICT Talent and Sustainable Development for Sub-Saharan Africa.
Huawei LEAP Summit 2024 held on 28 th June in Shanghai
LEAP stands for leadership, employability, advancement and possibility. The event, co-
hosted by Huawei and the African Telecommunications Union (ATU), is an official partner
program 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 from many African nations in the Sub-Saharan region.
There is a pressing need to equip talent in Sub-Saharan Africa with digital skills. According to
the World Economic Forum, more than one billion people around the world need to be
upskilled or reskilled by 2030. Furthermore, the International Financial Corporation
estimates that over 230 million jobs in Sub-Saharan Africa will require digital skills by 2030.
In this opening address, Jeff Wang, Senior Vice President, President of Public Affairs and
Communications, 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.”
Jeff Wang, Senior Vice President, President of Public Affairs and Communications, Huawei
Of LEAP thus far, 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.”
Hover Gao, President of Huawei Sub-Saharan Africa
In his remarks, John OMO, Secretary General of the African Telecommunications Union
(ATU) reiterated a human-first approach to technology. He said: “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.” Mr. OMO encouraged the audience to
collectively participate in the effort to upskill to give the youth not just a future but also a
present in which they can thrive.
John OMO, Secretary General, African Telecommunications Union
Hon. Minister Counselor He Hongyan, Department of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs of the People’s Republic of China, emphasized the importance of China-African talent
cooperation as outlined in the China-Africa Cooperation 2035. She said that LEAP “is helping
Africa build a pool of digital talent, boost its digital economy, bridge the digital divide and
boost and drive inclusive development.”
Minister Counselor He Hongyan, Department of African Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
the People’s Republic of China
Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China, joined the program
remotely via video to highlight the importance of a multilateral approach to addressing the
digital skills gap and upskilling of workers. He said: “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 (SDGs).”
Siddharth Chatterjee, the United Nations Resident Coordinator in China
Hon. Dr. Tatenda Annastacia Mavetera, Minister of Information Communication
Technology, Postal and Courier Services, Zimbabwe, provided both the local perspective and
the pan-African perspective on digital talent cultivation. She said: “Beyond the impressive
ICT talent achievements on display, this summit is a testament to the power of
collaboration. It is through partnerships between governments, industries, leaders,
academia, and civil society that we are truly able to unlock the full potential of ICT for the
benefit of humanity.”
Hon. Dr. Tatenda Annastacia Mavetera, Minister of Information Communication Technology,
Postal and Courier Services, Zimbabwe
The TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Initiative is one of the key pillars of Huawei’s Corporate
Sustainable Development strategies. During the summit, Joyce Liu, Director of TECH4ALL
Digital Inclusion Office at Huawei, shared the progress of TECH4ALL in Sub-Saharan Africa.
She said: “We must take a long-term perspective on how education can help shape a more
inclusive and sustainable future, building connectivity for schools, improving capabilities for
people and supporting STEM content development for digital upskilling and reskilling.”
Joyce Liu, Director of TECH4ALL Digital Inclusion Office, Huawei
Huawei and its partners launched a series of activities of digital talent development in Sub-
Saharan Africa. Steven Fan, The Director of Huawei's Training & Certification Dept, released
a new Huawei Digital Intelligence Talent Development Program. This initiative includes free
Huawei Certificate courses and exam vouchers for the Huawei ICT Academy and outstanding
personnel.
Steven Fan, Enterprise Training & Certification Dept Director, Huawei
Also announced, the Digital Badge program enables students and teachers who have
attended Huawei ICT Academy programs to display these certifications on their social media
platforms and use them to unlock future employment opportunities.
(From Left to Right: Prof. Muhammed Bashir Muazu, Team Lead, Computer Engineering and
IASC director Ahmadu Bello University, Nigeria; Prof. Baraka Jacob Maiseli, Associate
Professor, Representative of Deputy Vice Chancellor – Research, University of Dar es Salaam,
Tanzania; ZHANG Jing, Senior Manager of Huawei ICT Talent Partner Development; George
Ndegwa Karimi, Director of University of Nairobi, Kenya; Hirya Richard Edymond, Soroti
University, Uganda)
Huawei launched its Leadership, Employability, Advancement and Possibilities (LEAP) digital
skills development program in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022. The program, aims to foster a
strong digital leadership and skilled ICT workforce, build a digital talent pool and promote
digital literacy among citizens, and includes a wide range of activities from ICT training and
certification courses to government digital capacity building and ICT skills competitions.
