President Ruto visits Huawei-YouthConnekt Africa job fair at largest youth event in Africa

President William Ruto and his deputy Rigathi Gachagua pose for a group photo with the Chinese Embassy in Kenya team led by Mr Zhang Yijun (centre), and the Huawei Kenya team led by CEO Mr Gavin Gao (third from right). PHOTO | COURTESY  By HUAWEI KENYA More by this Author  

President Ruto opened the YouthConnekt Africa Summit 2023 at KICC, starting with a visit to the job fair co-organized with Huawei and supported by the

Kenya-China Economic and Trade Association (KCETA) where 38 companies were offering 500 job opportunities.

At the Job Fair, the President met Mr Zhang Yijun, the minister Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya and Mr Gavin Gao CEO of Huawei Kenya along with other Executives before visiting the booths of Sunda International, Huawei, China Road and Bridge, and UN Volunteering.

At the Huawei booth, the President had a chat with Michael Kamau, Huawei ICT Academy manager who took him through the Huawei ICT talent ecosystem programme that includes upscaling youth in digital technology and ICT competence, where 250 lecturers have been trained in advanced technology and over 10,000 University and college students are trained annually.

He also met Mr Eric Ongeri, Operations Channel Manager at Huawei, who was recruited at last year’s Job Fair. The head of State also spoke with Mr Mathew Kiptoo, the hiring manager and they discussed employment opportunities available at Huawei in Kenya and the Graduate management training programme.

This is a six-month program that provides youth with training and internships at Huawei and then offers them jobs at Huawei or at Huawei’s partners to ensure job transition and availability for Graduates.

The YouthConnekt Africa Summit 2023 was held in Kenya for the first time and themed “Youth innovating a borderless African renaissance”. 

It convened over 20,000 young people, government officials, corporate leaders and development champions to spotlight Youth leadership and innovation for Africa's integration through policy discussions, storytelling and networking, and entrepreneur-focused programmes including marketplace and investor meetings.

Huawei partnered with Kenya China Economic and Trade Association (KCETA) to put together the job fair. KCETA is a social organization comprised of Chinese businesses in Kenya. The association was founded in 2001 with 51 Chinese-invested businesses in Kenya, and as of December 2023 the association’s membership has grown to 102 members.

The mission of the KCETA is to strengthen the cohesiveness and influence of Chinese business people in Kenya in order to better protect the rights of Chinese businesses and promote their business development there.

Since its founding, the association has continuously improved its charter and various systems, improving the self-discipline of Chinese invested businesses in Kenya, responding to member demands, protecting member rights, helping Chinese businesses to resolve difficulties encountered during operation, encouraging member businesses to open up charitable initiatives and carry out their social responsibility, creating closer ties to the community, establishing a good corporate image for Chinese businesses, continuously strengthening internal and external communication, and improving the cohesiveness of member businesses.

 20 KCETA members participated in the job fair bringing in a total of 400 jobs as part of the job fair.