Masego Dibetle, an information and communications technology (ICT) student at Tshwane University of Technology in South Africa, looks utterly delighted. Over the last two weeks, the 20-year-old has met with world leading experts in her field of study and visited state-of-the-art laboratories during her first trip to China.

So delighted, in fact, she is even considering applying to join Huawei, the Chinese global information and communications giant which sponsored and organized her study trip, once she graduates.

In November 2016, Dibetle and nine other South African university students with ICT education background came to China to attend a two-week training in Beijing and Shenzhen in south China's Guangdong Province where Huawei is headquartered. During the training, they had the chance to marvel at cutting-edge ICT technologies such as 5G, LTE and cloud computing, as well as receive professional training from Huawei experts.

Such training was made possible by Huawei's "Seeds for the Future," a project aimed at helping Africa groom ICT professionals, promote skills transfer and develop its ICT industry. This trip may be only a small step in the direction of closing Africa's gap in information technology, but for Dibetle, it has been a life-changing experience.

ICT professionals

As one of China's leading companies in the cyber industry, Huawei has been very active in working toward addressing Africa's digital divide with the rest of the world. The "Seeds for the Future" project, launched in 2015 in countries such as Kenya, Namibia, Botswana, Nigeria, Zimbabwe and Ghana, is a major part of the company's efforts in this area.

"We invited African students to Huawei to practice and experience ICT technologies. I am convinced they will become the future leaders and experts in the ICT field in Africa," said Ding Shaohua, Senior Vice President at Huawei.

Ding said the company has set up seven training centers in Africa over the last 20 years, which have trained a total of 30,000 ICT personnel in Africa.

Not content with this feat, Huawei is now expanding its efforts. In July 2016, Huawei's first Innovation and Experience Center was officially opened in Johannesburg, South Africa. At the inauguration, the company signed a cooperation agreement with South Africa's Department of Telecommunications and Postal Services, and committed itself to training 1,000 South African ICT personnel in the next five years.

ZTE is another company engaged in raising the level of ICT education in Africa. At the China-Africa Internet Cooperation Forum of the Third Session of the World Internet Conference, held on November 17, 2016 in Wuzhen, Zhejiang Province, Hu Xuemei, Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the Middle East and Africa Region at ZTE, said his company had entered into a partnership with Equatorial Guinea and established a studio classroom to train local ICT personnel.

With Chinese communication equipment companies investing significant efforts in cultivating local professionals in Africa, significant hurdles remain. The lack of a better network infrastructure in particular prevents ICT professionals from fully playing their function in the industry.

"Digital professionals and skills are among the most important foundations to address the digital divide, and we need to be more proactive in terms of human resources development and networking," said Wang Xiujun, Vice Minister of the Cyberspace Administration of China, at the China-Africa Internet Cooperation Forum.

The way to wealth

As the continent is entering the information age, the network infrastructure is poised to play a role of no less importance than the traditional transportation and electricity infrastructure. Statistics show that a 20 percent increase in new ICT investment corresponds to a 1-percent growth of a country's GDP. In view of this, China-Africa cooperation in network infrastructure has great potential.

There is a pressing need in Africa for improving the network infrastructure, and as local capabilities are limited, there is hope that Africa can learn and borrow from China's successful experiences, said Abdallah Said Sarouma, Vice President in charge of the Ministry of Transport, Posts and Telecommunications and Information and Communications Technologies of Comoros.

"We clearly understand the importance of working together with China, especially in the information and communications technology sector," he said.

YOFC, a fiber-optics and cables company based in Wuhan, Hubei Province, has already laid fiber-optics for African countries such as Ethiopia and South Africa.

ZTE, for its part, has also contributed to improving Africa's communication infrastructure network. In collaboration with Ethiopia Telecom, it has built an end-to-end broadband network in the country, including fixed-line broadband and mobile broadband. In the past decade, the company has grown to service more than 50 million users in Africa, which is a remarkable breakthrough in the continent's telecommunications network history.

Challenges still many

Great progress comes with great challenges, and players in Africa's network infrastructure industry still have plenty on their plate.

According to Justin Saidi, Permanent Secretary of Malawi's Ministry of Information and Civic Education, 17 percent of Malawians are now surfing the Internet. In rural areas, however, Internet development is still very backward.

He noted that the country has developed a policy to protect network security, but problems are still many.

For Chinese companies, exploring the African market requires patience. In this regard, Yu Xiaohui, Chief Engineer of China Academy of Information and Communications Technology, said it is good for African governments to make ICT strategies and related tactics, like China, focusing on both infrastructure construction and economic and social policies related to the Internet infrastructure. "China's rapid increase in the number of Internet users is attributed not only to its big market, but also to its good policies, including coordination between the market and the government," he said.

Moreover, as China supports infrastructure development in Africa, companies in this regard should insist on strengthening the interconnection among African countries.

Network application innovation

With optical fiber and 4G networks taking shape, what are badly needed are more innovative Internet applications. As traditional industries and the Internet are converging, the current Internet ecosystem also has a wide range of applications including those in manufacturing, finance and transportation sectors.

One of the most compelling examples of a network application's successful localization is the Chinese social software WeChat, which now has more than 100 million users outside China, including many in South Africa.

"We are eager to see what kind of WeChat functions can adapt to African culture and be a good help to local people's life," said Jiang Yang, Vice President of Tencent Holdings Ltd., the company that developed WeChat.

Jiang believes it is critical for the Internet applications to take local needs into consideration when trying to penetrate the African market. "We should get a better understanding of the local culture. Taking WeChat as an example, we do not copy the application to African market, but modify it to better meet local users' needs," Jiang added.

One could bet this is surely the kind of challenges young Masego Dibetle would love to tackle as a future ICT engineer at Huawei.