Boosting career readiness of Ghanaian youth in ICT

With Ghana’s dedication to ‘Moving Beyond Aid’ and expanding its local digital economy, there has been a lot of noteworthy achievements throughout the years. Notable among these include:

⁻ Ghana recording the highest internet penetration rate (53%), as well as the highest e-Connectivity Index (86.43), in the West African Sub-region, in 2022.

⁻ Ghana’s close to 19 million unique mobile subscribers, equivalent to 67 percent of the population, which is significantly higher than the Sub-Saharan African average of 44 percent.

⁻ Ghana toping African countries with the fastest internet speed in the latest global ranking as well as its significant investments in rural network coverage through its Rural Telephony Project which has helped increase the communication coverage rate in underserved communities from 83% to 95% by providing affordable ICT infrastructure

Huawei is proud to have contributed to many of these achievements including the government’s Rural Telephony and Digital Inclusion Project. Through this project, Huawei deployed 2,000 base stations in rural areas and provided voice and data services to 3.4 million people, 2,000 schools, and 200 rural clinics.

All of these achievements have paved way for Ghana to transition towards a flourishing digital economy; with the younger generation being the main driving force behind this progress. However, it is undeniable that the demand for digital-skilled talents in Ghana exceeds its supply.

Research suggests that by 2030, 50 percent of all jobs and 75-80 percent of the formal sector jobs in Ghana will require essential digital skills as a prerequisite. This reality hurdles young people from fully fulfilling their potential in the digital era.

To bridge this gap, Huawei, as a world-leading ICT company and a long-time partner of the Ghanaian Government, is committed to improving the digital skills capacity of more Ghanaians by introducing the ‘LEAP digital talent program - which promotes the 'Leadership', 'Employability’, 'Advancement', and 'Possibilities' of people by equipping them with sufficient digital skills.

Under the LEAP program, we are aiming to provide ICT training to a hundred thousand (100,000) people from 2022 to 2024 in Ghana, together with our partners from industry and academia.

In addition to providing world-class training lessons and certificates to policymakers, young graduates and ICT professionals while improving the digital literacy skills of the public, Huawei is also dedicated to enhancing the hands-on experience of the program’s beneficiaries.

It is against this backbone that we established the Ghana ICT Talent Development Centre (GITDeC) in Ghana, to boost the career readiness of the youth interested in joining the ICT industry and equip them with hands-on experience in the real-world environment.

The Ghana ICT Talent Development Centre has been set up to offer training in the field of telecommunications equipment installation, standardized quality control, EHS (Environmental, Health, and Safety) compliance, and the use of digital delivery platforms. All of these courses are designed based on the demands of real-world jobs.

There will be full-time qualified instructors and skilled engineers on-site to guide and support the trainees. “There is no need to fear the wind when your roots are deep”, says an African proverb. At Huawei, we believe that the LEAP program, will widely and deeply spread the roots of digital prosperity in Ghana.

This initiative strongly advocates for putting people, especially the youth, at the centre of the spotlight and investing immensely in people with the ultimate goal of realizing the growth of the youth, their communities and societies, as well as their beloved country. With this approach, economic advancement is inevitable.

We also see the launch of the Ghana ICT Talent Development Centre as a clarion call for more collaborations. The goals of ICT talent development and adequate digital skills provision cannot be achieved by an individual. “It takes a village to raise a child,” as the saying goes.

We must therefore closely collaborate with government, industry, and academia, as well as encourage more domestic and international resources, expertise and partnerships. This will enable us build an ecosystem which is open to everyone and from which all parties can benefit.

We firmly believe that, with a strong supply of digital talent and an extensive collaboration among stakeholders, the full bloom of Ghana’s digital future would be within reach.