African Universities Shine At Huawei ICT Global Final

African universities delivered one of their strongest performances yet at the 10th Huawei ICT Competition Global Final, with Nigeria securing two Grand Prizes, Kenya claiming its first-ever Grand Prize, and Egypt and Algeria emerging among the competition’s top-performing countries.

The competition, held in Shenzhen on June 9, attracted more than 220,000 students and faculty members from over 2,000 institutions across more than 100 countries and regions. Following national and regional rounds, 177 teams from 49 countries and regions advanced to the global final.

Nigeria emerged as one of the standout performers, winning two Grand Prizes, two First Prizes, and a Second Prize across the Network, Cloud, Computing, and Innovation tracks.

Speaking after hosting the Nigerian delegation, Dr. Bosun Tijani, Nigeria’s Minister of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy, said the results made Nigeria the most successful country outside China in the competition for the third consecutive year.

One of Nigeria’s Grand Prizes was awarded to a team from Ahmadu Bello University in the Innovation Competition. The students developed a solar-powered diagnostic device that uses AI, cloud, and Huawei Ascend technologies to detect malaria and intestinal parasites in under three minutes without requiring internet connectivity.

The Nigerian team comprised students from Ahmadu Bello University, Igbinedion University, University of Lagos, Federal University of Technology Minna, University of Port Harcourt, and Nasarawa State University.

Kenya also made history at the competition, winning its first-ever Grand Prize since the contest was launched a decade ago.

The Grand Prize in the Cloud category was awarded to a Kenyan team comprising Kevin Tuei of Tharaka University, Catherine Atieno of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), Brian Ngugi Kamau of Mount Kenya University, and Salem Kim of Machakos University.

Kenya also secured a First Prize and a special award, while an all-female team comprising Joan Nkatha, Melane Minayo, and Faith Mosonik won the Women in Tech Award after a strong performance in the Computing category.

Across the continent, Egypt secured Grand Prizes in both the Cloud and Computing tracks, while Algeria emerged among the competition’s most decorated countries with Grand Prizes in the Network, Cloud, and Computing categories.

Ghana received the Green Development Award for a sustainability-focused innovation project.

Other African countries represented at the global final included Rwanda, Madagascar, Tunisia, and Côte d’Ivoire, highlighting the growing reach of Huawei’s ICT Academy programme across the continent.

The Huawei ICT Competition is an annual global contest that forms part of the Huawei ICT Academy programme, through which students receive training in networking, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, computing, and other digital technologies before competing in practical and innovation-based challenges.

Recognised as a partner programme of UNESCO’s Global Skills Academy, the competition has become a key platform for showcasing emerging digital talent and strengthening ICT capabilities among university students worldwide.

The strong performance by African teams reflects the continent’s growing digital skills capacity and the increasing competitiveness of its universities in global technology competitions.