HUAWEI Technologies Central America and the Caribbean, a leading provider of information and communications technologies (ICT), has announced the start of the ninth edition of its flagship global CSR programme, Seeds for the Future, in the Caribbean and Latin America. The company welcomes 92 outstanding university students from Jamaica, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago and Suriname, who will receive technological, cultural and soft skills training for approximately one week in San José, Costa Rica, with the help of experts and leaders of the ICT industry.

During the eight days the students will learn about new technological trends, participate in classes taught by INCAE (Central American Institute of Business Administration), strengthen their soft skills, and share with industry experts topics that will help them in their future professional careers.

In the last nine years Seeds for the Future has worked with recognised universities in the region to select the best students for this academic opportunity that allows them to acquire technological skills while learning about new cultures and developing their creativity by carrying out the Tech4Good project.

Through the Tech4Good project, students will have the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice and delve deeper into the tools that technology provides to address social or environmental problems in their countries of origin. The best projects will be selected for the global phase during which the winning group will be able to obtain US$100,0000 to carry out their project.

Part of Huawei’s aim is to promote female participation, and reducing the gender gap has been a priority in Huawei in recent years. During the first years of the programme in Central America and the Caribbean, 15 per cent of female participation was managed, this year there is 44 per cent participation of females from the 10 countries, and the goal in the future is to be able to achieve 50 per cent to promote their professional development and digital skills training.

Seeds for the Future has been carried out consecutively for 15 years since its first launch in 2008 in Thailand, and more than 15,000 students from more than 500 universities, in 137 countries and regions around the world, have participated in the programme. In local terms the programme has been implemented since 2015 in the region of Central America and the Caribbean, reaching more than 400 students from 10 countries in the region.

“We believe that we can contribute greatly to local communities by working hand [in] hand with our clients, partners and stakeholders — since we all share the same vision of wanting to promote the digital transformation of our region. To achieve this, the most important thing is to invest in talent; training future generations with technical skills and business tools is the most important step we have identified to build a robust technological ecosystem,” said Daniel Ding, VP of Huawei Central America and the Caribbean.