Business & Money | Wednesday 22 March, 2017 12:00 am |

The Saudi Arabia's Vision for 2030 is centered on innovation and advanced technologies that empower Saudi citizens and develop their competencies and capabilities in various sectors. Huawei is one of the key tech firms investing in the Kingdom, and supporting its efforts to build a new generation of tech-savvy entrepreneurs by transferring knowledge, skills and expertise to Saudi youth.

Gene Jiao, president for Huawei Middle East and Africa Consumer Business Group stressed that Huawei spares no effort to support the sustainable development in Saudi Arabia. “To attain the KSA Vision 2030, it is necessary to have qualified national talent armed with skills and competencies to successfully implement this vision. We are pleased at Huawei to offer our full support for the development of the Kingdom’s ICT sector which will help in building a sustainable knowledge-based economy and more connected communities in Saudi Arabia which aspires to achieve a quantum leap in its ICT sector. Undoubtedly, the KSA 2030 Vision is a strong growth driver for the ICT sector and we will certainly continue to invest in the Saudi market creating more development opportunities for the promising Saudi talent.”

Regarding job creation for Saudi youth, Gene Jiao emphasized that Huawei gives a great importance to this, as it believes in the importance of the partnership between the public and private sectors and the vital role played by the private sector in developing and building local skills. He added: “For us in Huawei, the Kingdom’s 2030 Vision was a good starting point towards contributing to the social and economic development at the local level through job creation and intensively investing in local talent through training centers and joint innovation centers. Today, it is critical to focus on integrating highly skilled young Saudi citizens in the telecom industry. We support and foster all ambitious and determined young people who follow their dreams and passions, and aspire to achieve their big ambitions, and believe in their talent and competency to change the impossible. In this regard, we have hosted a recruitment campaign recently in the Faculty of Engineering at King Saud University in Riyadh as part of our endeavors to attract young Saudi talent and contribute to achieving the objectives of the Kingdom's 2030 vision. The two-day event was held under the theme of “We grow together” in line with Huawei's strategy to support ICT sector development in the Kingdom, build young national talent and contribute to the implementation of Saudization programs. This also allows us to expand our support for developing the skills of young Saudis and prepare them to engage in the labor market immediately after graduation, and increase the number of Saudi individuals working in ICT sector. "

It should be noted that following the decision on the Saudization of the telecom sector across the Kingdom and after the commitment of the Technical and Vocational Training Corporation (TVTC) to the mission of training and building Saudi youth’s skills in mobile devices maintenance and sales, Huawei collaborated with TVTC to launch training courses in mobile phone maintenance, including 100 instructors in four main Saudi cities: Riyadh, Jeddah Dammam and Abha. And after concluding the training sessions, Huawei invited the top 10 to visit its headquarters in China and participate in the advanced two-week training program on mobile phones maintenance. The 10 instructors were awarded an "accredited certification" for advanced mobile phones maintenance training during a ceremony held in Shenzhen, China and attended by the governor of the TVTC Dr. Ahmed Al-Fuhaid, who congratulated the recognized instructors.