Huawei ‘Seeds for the Future 2018’ empowers local youth
Huawei ‘Seeds for the Future 2018’ programme was ceremoniously launched at an event recently held at Huawei Sri Lanka CSIC.
The event was delegated by the Former Secretary to Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure and Foreign Employment Ministry Chulananda Perera and officials from the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China in Colombo. Through the Programme, Huawei will be sponsoring 10 University students from Sri Lanka who will be travelling to China from November 5 to 16, 2018.
Seeds for the Future is Huawei’s global CSR flagship programme executed with the objective of nurturing Sri Lankan ICT youth talent to bring benefits to the Sri Lankan ICT industry. The programme has been successfully executed for two consecutive years. Huawei Sri Lanka Representative Office fully sponsored 10 Sri Lankan University students to China for an ICT learning and culture trip in 2016 and 2017.
Telecommunications and Digital Infrastructure Ministry Former Secretary Chulananda Perera said: “Information and communications technologies (ICT) have become crucial growth engines for many economies. ICT industry has greatly changed business models and customer requirements. As a result, across the ICT ecosystem there is an urgent need for large numbers of technical talent who can address the challenges posed by this transformation. We are delighted that as an ICT leader in Sri Lanka, Huawei is committed to promoting ICT industry development in Sri Lanka, and aims to drive long-term economic, social, and environmental sustainability in our country.”
Through the programme, Huawei collaborates with the local government, higher education institutes, and other organisations to select top university students and young government officials working in Ict-related departments; offer them valuable opportunities to study and gain work experience and help them learn more about Chinese culture and gain crosscultural work experience in a global business environment. The students will also receive the opportunity to study cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, LTE, and cloud computing, and offer them opportunities for hands-on practice in Huawei’s most advanced labs. what makes this program unique is that it also offers firsthand learning opportunities through interaction with Huawei staff and visits to Huawei laboratories, where programme participants can engage in hands-on practice and witness live demonstrations of the latest ICT technology.
Huawei Technologies Lanka (Pvt) Ltd CEO Shunli Wang said: “Huawei believes that access to education is vital to create opportunities that support fair and sustainable development in the countries in which the company operates. Therefore, our global CSR initiatives largely focus on education and knowledge transfer. Initiated by Huawei in 2008, Seeds for the Future programme seeks to develop local ICT talent, enhance knowledge transfer, promote a greater understanding of and interest in the telecommunications sector, and improve and encourage the development and active participation of the future talent in a digital community.” “as Huawei we are ready and keen to contribute and invest more to the Digital Transformation of Sri Lanka, therefore we would continue with ‘Huawei Seeds for the Future’ as an opportunity for the Sri Lankan younger generation to improve their ICT talent and skills,” he added.
Wang further suggested that it is important that both the government sector and private sector in Sri Lanka come forward in increasing ICT sector investment that enhance the ICT talent of youth that in turn directly contribute to the economic growth of the country and make Sri Lanka competitive among the other economies.
He further added: “Every year, Huawei invites 1,000 students, 10 per country, to study at our Headquarters in Shenzhen. We discuss future trends and provide them with a life changing opportunity to harness their experience. The name of the programme represents our desire to nurture promising young professionals in every country where Huawei operates. No one can say for sure what the future of information technology will be like with the rapid change. We bring together young people of different races and languages and make them contribute to global progress. Huawei is committed towards shaping the future talent in ICT industry.”