Huawei to invest $150m in talent development

Huawei announced its investment of $150 million in its ‘Seeds for the Future Programme 2.0’–a digital talent development initiative–over the next five years expecting to benefit more than three million people.

The announcement was made at the ‘Tech and Sustainability: Everyone’s Included’ forum held at Sehnzhen, China, said a news release.

The forum was co-hosted by Huawei and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Representatives from Huawei, IUCN, the World Economic Forum, Carbon Disclosure Project, Global Enabling Sustainability Initiative and Singapore Institute of International Affairs participated in the event.

Jay Chen, vice president of Huawei Asia Pacific, while announceing Huawei’s programme, said, “In the digital economy, digital talent is playing an increasingly important role in driving digital transformation and economic growth. The access to education is vital for creating opportunities that support sustainable and fair development.”

Due to the pandemic, Huawei is organising the programme online.

In 2008, Huawei rolled out talent development through scholarships, technology competitions, and digital skills training. More than 1.54 million people from over 150 countries have been benefited by the programme.

The Seeds for the Future programme, initiated in Bangladesh in 2014, has so far seen participation from around 6,000 students.

In the country, Huawei partnering with local online learning platform Bijoy Digital provided distance learning solutions to the T-and-T High school and its branches across Bangladesh during the pandemic.

Huawei ASEAN Academy has been launched in Thailand, Malaysia, and Indonesia since 2019 and has cultivated more than 100,000 talents for preparing for the digital future. Huawei has built collaborations with around 200 universities in countries across the Asia Pacific, the release said.