Huawei SA Supports Digital Council Africa’s Skills Development For SA Women In Fibre Optic Technology
Huawei SA Supports Digital Council Africa’s Skills Development For SA Women In Fibre Optic Technology. Huawei South Africa has lent its support to a pioneering fibre optic technologies skills training programme targeting young women from three Johannesburg townships. The cohort of 19 selected participants, who all have a background in maths and science, spent a day at Huawei’s flagship Customer Solutions Innovation Centre in Woodmead, Johannesburg.
Here the students were introduced to technology solutions in 5G networks, Cloud/AI, and big data among others and learned about digital solutions for specific business verticals. They also had a formal training session relating to fibre deployment and a typical fibre project was unpacked and evaluated from start to finish. The day was a fitting conclusion to their three-month course, hosted by the Digital Council Africa (DCA), of which Huawei is a member, together with training partner Signa Academy and MICT SETA, the project funder, as well as Herotel which provided much-needed practical workplace experience.
The fibre installation industry, which is largely male-dominated, now has 19 empowered young women who are enthusiastic about their futures and the new skills acquired during training. The session was opened by Huawei SA COO Christina Naidoo and is part of Huawei’s ongoing global Women in Tech programme. “Huawei congratulates all the young women who participated in this training, which served to expose them to a sector about which they previously knew very little. I can see that the course has ignited a passion in each of them, and I am sure that by harnessing this passion, supporting each other and working hard, they will go on to build careers in ICT infrastructure, crucial for growing the South African economy,” Naidoo said.
Juanita Clark, CEO of the DCA, said, “This one-of-its-kind training was designed to encourage more women into the sector, which requires greater transformation and inclusivity. Women bring a different and more nurturing side to technology whose development must ultimately serve us all. The young women now have a much clearer understanding of the vital role they will play within the end-to-end value chain that connects us to continually evolving technologies.”
Senior strategy consultant at Huawei, Marius Engelbrecht spoke to the group about the importance of optic fibre infrastructure. “The information shared during the tour of our Innovation Centre will assist in expanding the trainee’s insights and knowledge relating to telecommunications technologies, which all depend heavily on fibre networks. Fibre not only brings fast download speeds to our homes for streaming our favourite entertainment, but it is the backbone of all the technologies they were introduced to today, especially in the 5G era.”
