Menu

Huawei Technologies has said it remains committed to building a fully digital IT ecosystem in Nigeria as well as research and development (R&D) in investments to pursue sustainability into the future.

The Deputy Managing Director (DMD), Huawei Technologies Enterprise, Ken Zhao, stated this during the Chief Information Officers (CIO) Awards 2021, which recently held in Lagos.

Zhao stated that the CIO Awards is a forum to celebrate excellence, innovation and service delivery across the user landscape. He added that through events like this, Nigeria’s innovations can be celebrated, and the CIOs encouraged to do more.

Zhao also noted that the company’s strategy is focused on working with various industries to add value to their ICT infrastructures and services and provide world-class solutions. This, he said, will add value to the Nigerian economy.

“Digital development relies on digital technology and for digital technology to stay relevant, we must continue to be innovative and create value in Cloud, AI and network which are the three critical arms of technology,” he said.

According to him, investment in ICT helps industries to digitise and enables the economy to increase productivity.

Also speaking at the event, the Chairman, CIO Awards Jury and Executive Director, IT and Operations at Access Bank Plc, Ade Bajomo, said Africa has started solving its problems and it is exciting as the continent leverages on global partnership.

“This year alone, about $1.5 billion has flown into Fintechs in Africa and Nigeria attracted a third of that,” said Bajomo. “This impressive figure, however, does not cover transactions that have not been disclosed. Indeed, I think that there is no better time to celebrate our CIOs who have been doing fantastic and wonderful things.”

He further said that this is just a start and if we are going to solve real problems, whether it is in financial technology, social services, government, we will have to leverage technology.

While revealing that the firm joined the global fight against COVID-19, Zhao noted that Huawei was working with partners and research institutions to provide AI-assisted diagnosis and other services across Asia, Europe and Latin America.

“As a leading global ICT infrastructure and smart service provider, we remain committed to bringing digital solutions to every person, home, organisation as we provide customers with competitive, secure, reliable and end-to-end products,” said Zhao.

Huawei has more than 197,000 employees, and 50 percent of them are in the R&D departments. The company is operating in more than 170 countries and territories. In 2021, Huawei rose from the 49th position to 44th in the global Fortune 500.

The DMD said Huawei will continue to leverage its research and development in investments to foster a sustainable future, and that the company’s R&D investment spending in 2020 reached $22 billion.

According to Zhao, some of the innovative projects that Huawei has embarked on in Nigeria include Hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) to DPR, and Wi-Fi 6 to the Lagos State Government.

“We have also formulated a roadmap on how to develop technical and digital skills in Nigeria, working with more than 65 Universities by providing Huawei Academies. Under different initiatives in Nigeria, we have facilitated ICT training for 1,000 government staff; about 2,000 youths and another 1,000 girls have also benefitted from our basic ICT training,” Zhao concluded.