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Herald reporter
After several futile attempts to earn a place at the Huawei Global ICT Competition, a team of students from the University of Zimbabwe made its maiden appearance, this time around.

Though being regular participants, this is the first time a Zimbabwean team has made it past the Southern Regional ICT competition since 2019 when Zimbabwe first participated.

In the recently ended Southern Regional Competition, the Zimbabwean team composed of Oscar Bosha, Evelyn Chipangura and Ryan Fadzai Mboma, finished first place, fending off Zambia, Malawi, Botswana and Namibia earning themselves a place at the global showpiece.

Huawei vice president for Southern Region, Phil Li, said Zimbabwe’s qualification to global ICT competition demonstrates that Zimbabwe is capable of producing exceptional and world class ICT talent, needed to turn around the country in terms of social and economic development.

Mr Li explained that ICT skills are much needed in today’s world because the world is experiencing a digital revolution that requires all economies to be up to date in terms of human resources. He added that Huawei is a proud sponsor of the ICT competition because it is a platform that brings out the best of ICT talents world-wide.

“It is a platform for not only exchanging ideas but a platform that produces results and real talent through practical demonstration of knowledge and application. With such talent coming out of Zimbabwe, it is set to be technologically advanced in the near future. We remain committed to supporting Zimbabwe’s digital transformation through talent search programmess like the ICT competition, Seeds for the future and also partnering with the Government on many ICT support programmes” Mr. Li said.

In as much as Zimbabwe seems to have done its homework and figured out a trick to break the spell of not being able to qualify to global finals, their impressive record of performance is largely attributed to student academy coordinators that worked tirelessly to guide students. With only a few days remaining to announcing final results, the Zimbabwean team remains upbeat about scooping number one position.

The Huawei ICT Competition has grown increasingly influential since its launch in 2015. In 2021, it was officially recognised by the China Association of Higher Education as a national competition for university and college students. It is intended for students in Huawei ICT academies and those in higher education institutions that are willing to join the ICT Academy worldwide.

Through this competition, Huawei aims to provide students with a platform to compete healthily and exchange ideas, thus enhancing their ICT knowledge and practical skills as well as increasing their ability to innovate by using new technologies and platforms. The 6th Huawei ICT Competition recently ended. The competition attracted 150,000 students from over 2,000 universities and colleges across 85 countries and regions. The Huawei ICT Competition Global Final is hosted in China every year at Shenzhen. The outbreak of the Covid-19 Pandemic has necessitated the introduction of a virtual competition.