Kenyan President William Ruto on Tuesday honored the country’s winners of the 2026 Global Huawei ICT Competition.
Speaking during the ceremony held in the capital, Nairobi, Ruto said that the students’ international success underscores Kenya’s rise as a continental tech hub and reinforces its commitment to competing in the future global digital economy.
Ruto praised Huawei for its nearly three-decade partnership with Kenya, highlighting that the company’s ICT Academy program has collaborated with 61 institutions, trained more than 15,000 students, certified over 6,000 learners, and equipped more than 400 lecturers with internationally recognized digital skills.
Gavin Gao, chief executive officer of Huawei Kenya, praised the Kenyan government for making technology a national priority, saying the company’s ongoing partnership with the country helps nurture globally competitive digital talent.
Kenya emerged as one of the top-performing nations at the 2026 Global Huawei ICT Competition in Shenzhen, China, after all three of its university teams reached the global finals.
The country secured a victory when its cloud track team captured the Grand Prize, Kenya’s first top honor since joining the competition in 2019. Its network track team won the Second Prize, and an all-female computing team from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology earned the Second Prize and the prestigious Women in Tech Award.