Huawei brings tech competition for Bangladeshi women

Huawei South Asia brought an ICT competition for the women in Bangladesh, said a press release.

This programme titled ‘Women In Tech 2023’ was launched recently at Huawei Bangladesh Academy with a view to developing local ICT talent and enable knowledge sharing among women.

UNESCO is the strategic partner of this competition here in Bangladesh.

Inspired by the theme ‘Tech for Her, Tech by Her, Tech with Her’, Huawei launched its ‘Women In Tech’ project in 2020 globally. And this year Huawei launched this competition in Bangladesh for the first time.

Current STEM female students of universities and those who graduated in the last two years are eligible to participate in this program.

The program was launched by Pan Junfeng, President of Huawei South Asia and CEO of Huawei Bangladesh; and Susan Vize, Officer-in-Charge, UNESCO Dhaka Office, in presence of education minister Dipu Moni, and Yao Wen, ambassador of China to Bangladesh.

Professor Shireen Akhter, vice-chancellor at University of Chittagong; professor Mahmuda Naznin, head of the department of Computer Science and Engineering, BUET and Lokman Hossain Miah, executive Chairman, Bangladesh Investment Development Authority (BIDA), were also present.

Education minister Dipu Moni said, “Under the visionary leadership of Sheikh Hasina, women’s empowerment is moving ahead. Our women are getting jobs and getting involved in all sort of economic activities. Our labor market participation of women has increased. But we have to go further. In this regard, I commend Huawei for their initiative ‘Women In Tech’ and all the other initiatives they have taken so far. In this era of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, we cannot afford to lag behind.”

Yao Wen, ambassador of China to Bangladesh, said, “There is a miracle taking place in Asia. A country in the last 50 years has been one of the fastest growing economies in the world – that country is Bangladesh. Under the strong leadership of Sheikh Hasina, Bangladesh has achieved this development. Bangladesh has a population of 170 million. These resources and assets need to be developed, especially for women. A Smart Bangladesh must have smart women. From this point, I can understand how important is this ‘Women In Tech’ program. This training program proves how much Huawei attaches importance to women development in Bangladesh.”

Pan Junfeng, CEO, Huawei South Asia, said, “We always desire that females get the opportunity to work in ICT sector with more ownership and a bigger footprint. The women of Bangladesh have great competency to drive the ICT development journey of this country. Empowering women and increasing their visibility will open up a whole world of new possibilities, bringing in new technological and commercial advancements for the country. With our ‘Women In Tech’ initiative, we are very happy to create another opportunity toward this achievement for this community.”

Susan Vize, Officer-in-Charge, UNESCO Dhaka Office, said, “UNESCO and Huawei both are working to empower women and make sure they have an opportunity for equal participation in the tech sector. Women’s contributions are critical in achieving the goals of the 4IR and advancing Bangladesh to reach middle-income status by 2026. I firmly believe ‘Women In Tech' will provide an opportunity to showcase women’s skills and promote greater participation of women and girls in tech industries. UNESCO is pleased to be a strategic partner with HUAWEI for this timely initiative.”

The registration process for this competition is live now. Interested candidates can enrol by sending their CVs to witbd@huawei.com by 10 July. After registration, applicants will undergo an interview session. Afterwards, top 50 shortlisted applicants will join the boot camp training of eight days (offline and online) at Huawei Bangladesh Academy.

In the next stage, participants will be divided in teams by Huawei. Under assigned mentors, these teams will undergo 3 month-long project and presentation process. Based on the result, the top three performers will be announced.

The champion of this six-month-long program will get Tk 300,000 as prize money. The 1st and 2nd Runner Up will get Tk 200,000 and Tk 100,000, respectively.

All three winners will get the opportunity to visit Huawei Headquarters in China. Additionally, they will get the opportunity to meet policymakers, VC and angle investors to share their pitch deck and get seed money.

Huawei is constantly working toward developing ICT talents through numerous unique initiatives like Seeds for the Future, ICT Incubator and various other ICT and tech-related programs, and increasing women’s participation in the ICT sector.

Huawei’s 2022 ICT Incubator 2nd Runner-Up Jahnnobi Rahman, the co-founder and CEO of Relaxy, made it to the Forbes 30 under 30 Asia 2023 list.