A group of 15 students on Monday, May 22, left the country to showcase their skills at the global Information and Communication Technology (ICT) competition in China.
Speaking when he saw them off for the Kenyan delegation, Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi congratulated the 15 students, urging them to shine at the international competition.
“Your performance in the National final of the ICT Competition and in the Regional Final has made our country proud, whilst also showing that our strategies and investments in education, skills and digital technologies are paying off,” stated Mudavadi.
Mudavadi explained that for the government, achieving the digital super highway goes beyond building the technology infrastructure and making it available to every Kenyan.
“This is the essence of the Bottom-up Economic Transformation Agenda that aims at providing the opportunities and enabling environment for our people to thrive,” he noted.
Echoing his remarks, Steven Zhang, one of the organizers for the global event, pointed out that the firm was committed to investing in ICT skills development for Kenyans.
“Our involvement in supporting the government to expand the country’s digital superhighway is borne from our belief that it is important for Kenya to build world class digital infrastructure,” he stated.
Steven added that the firm will ramp up its partnerships and engagement with government, academia, and the private sector to grow the ICT talent ecosystem.
To do this, the ICT company will continue to cultivate high-quality ICT talent to facilitate the development of the digital economy.
The ICT Competition is a talent exchange event developed by the firm for college students globally and is designed to promote the healthy development of the ICT talent ecosystem and support the integration of industry and education.
Globally over 150,000 students from more than 2,000 Colleges/Universities in 85 countries participated in the ICT competition.
Beating a strong field of 4,500 Kenyans in the country’s national final, the 15 students also represented Kenya in the African competition where they emerged among the top three out of 16 countries.
This year’s competition is the 7th edition and follows the previous successes that other Kenyan students achieved in proving the ICT prowess at previous events.
In Kenya, the challenge attracted more than 13,000 students since 2018 and this year registered over 4,000 students from more than 50 University and College partners.