Three University students from Trinidad and Tobago achieved top honours in the 7th local edition of the Huawei Seeds for the Future (SFTF) programme, which concluded on November 14, 2022.

 

The trio, who included Abigail Rambarran (University of Trinidad and Tobago), Lane Amichan (University of the West Indies St Augustine) and Saeed Badree (University of the West Indies, St Augustine), won the Top Performing Students Award at the Seeds for the Future Graduation and Award Ceremony at the National Academy for the Performing Arts on January 10, 2023.

They will also benefit from the addition of an Integration Week where they will attend an ICT Learning Workshop in Huawei’s Innovation Centre in Panama this month, alongside other top Seeds for the Future students from the region.

 

Rambarran, Amichan, Badree were selected from the twenty participants in the 2022 cohort.

 

The Huawei Seeds for the Future programme brings together top talent from global universities annually to experience cutting-edge ICT at Huawei’s Headquarters in Shenzhen, alongside cultural exchange in Beijing. In 2022, the programme was once again held using the virtual platform due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic in China. The students also gained invaluable industry knowledge through courses and workshops held by global industry experts.

 

 

Tudor John, Enterprise Business Director, Huawei T&T noted that talent development is significant to Huawei but also for the development of the region through the digital transformation ecosystem. He also explained that the SFTF programme was one part of the overall Huawei ICT Development Plan which also includes the ICT Academy, ICT Talent Competition, and Internship programmes.

 

“Here in T&T, we have seen 90 students participate in the Seeds for the Future initiative between 2016 and 2022. Our desire to develop the local Digital Sector and the human resources to underpin that sector, is based on Huawei’s fundamental business mandate: to bring digital to every person, home and organization for a fully connected, intelligent world,” he added.

 

Lerone Brathwaite, Strategic Intelligence Team Lead, Ministry of Digital Transformation, congratulated Huawei for this ‘excellent initiative’.

“We at the Ministry have learnt over the course of our Digital Transformation journey, that while technology may be the tool and enabler that allows us to change the world for the better, it is people who are the critical resource that make everything possible,” Braithwaite said. He also took the opportunity to elaborate on the Government’s Digital Transformation Agenda, which is structured around Digital Society (citizen’s access to broadband and technology), Digital Economy (business growth through ICT) and Digital Government (expanded government payment and processing services online).

 

The Top 3 students highly praised the SFFT initiative and received special awards in addition to graduation certificates received by all.

 

Abigail Rambarran, a Software Engineering student at the University of Trinidad and Tobago (UTT), hopes to join Huawei after graduation. She noted that being part of the programme and being in her final year was a challenge but that ‘the hard work paid off.’ Meeting her peers through the intensive SFFT platform was a highlight for the student who spent most of her university experience learning virtually.

 

Saeed Badree is pursuing Information Technology with a minor in Management at the University of the West Indies (UWI) and enjoyed seeing the emerging technologies and learning through cultural exchanges with China and Jamaica. With entrepreneurial ambitions, he hopes to ‘one day open my own IT-based business’ and advises students to ‘always work towards their dreams.’

 

Lane Amichan, an Electrical and Computer Engineering student at UWI, noted that being selected for this programme was meaningful. “ICT is something I always wanted to get into – it’s fascinating and it was surreal to be a part of this,” he said. The cultural exchange was a highlight for him, and he recommends the SFFT to anyone interested in the ICT field but to carefully manage their time.

 

Representatives of various organisations were also in attendance including Lisa Agard, CEO of TSTT; Cynthia Reddock-Downes, CEO of TATT; Teresa Wankin, Secretary General of CANTO alongside parents of graduating students.

 

–

The Huawei Seeds for the Future programme was initiated in Thailand in 2008 and has benefited over 12,000 global students in 500+ universities in 137 countries. For more information, visit www.huawei.com/minisite/seeds-for-the-future .