(Left-Right: Deputy Chairman II of Women Leadership Foundation, Datuk Zunaidah Idris; Chairman of Women Leadership Foundation, Datuk Dr Hafsah Hashim; CEO of Huawei Malaysia, Mr Michael Yuan; Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, Huawei Malaysia, Rita Irina Abd. Wahab)
[KUALA LUMPUR, 05 OCTOBER 2021] Huawei Technologies (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd (Huawei Malaysia) and the Women Leadership Foundation (WLF) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to work together in developing a leadership programme for female leaders in the country.
Through the Huawei ASEAN Academy, the signing of the MoU reiterates Huawei Malaysia’s long-term commitment to train the digital talent pool in the country and to help contribute towards the progress of the development of the women workforce and leadership as well as to help position the nation as the Asean Digital Hub.
This initiative is part of Huawei Malaysia’s agenda to further nurture and facilitate talented female leaders in the country’s workforce by developing a mixture of leadership and digital skills that is a necessity in this digital era.
The MoU involves the cross-sharing of expertise via workshops, seminar and trainings, as well as collaborations with market leaders and experts in the field to provide relevant insights for women on latest trends and innovations with the advent of advanced technologies.
Present during the MoU signing ceremony were Mr Michael Yuan, Chief Executive Officer of Huawei Malaysia; Tan Sri Datin Paduka Siti Sa’adiah, Co-founder of the Women Leadership Foundation; Datuk Dr Hafsah Hashim, Chairman of the Women Leadership Foundation; Dato’ Hazimah Zainuddin, Deputy Chairman I of the Women Leadership Foundation; Datuk Zunaidah Idris, Deputy Chairman II of the Women Leadership Foundation and Huawei Malaysia Vice President of Public Affairs and Communications, Rita Irina Abd. Wahab
“The signing of MOU between Huawei Malaysia & the Women Leadership Foundation (WLF) marks a new milestone to create 2,500 future-ready female talents in the pipeline who will be equipped with the business analytics, big data, AI, blockchain skills, facilitating leaders in making informed, right and good decisions,” said Datuk Dr Hafsah.
“We are seeing a tidal wave of organisations in the country injecting greater urgency into their efforts to tackle the lack of technology skills among women with senior leadership experience. A leader as an agent of change requires an understanding that the digital future is now and must know how to equip companies to respond to challenges of today and to lead them into the digital economy of tomorrow. Today’s MOU is a core driver in fulfilling these ambitions in providing a competitive edge for female leaders,” added Datuk Zunaidah Idris.
“Tech has no gender. There must be gender diversity and inclusivity in this digital era. Without women, we are losing out on the participation of half of the world’s workforce. To eliminate the digital gender gap, Huawei has launched digital technology enablement programmes for women in Ireland, Argentina, Bangladesh, Kenya, South Africa, and other countries.
“Huawei aims to provide women with the training they need to be fundamentally competitive in the digital economy. Equipping women with these skills has proven to promote social integration and inclusive and diversified societies.
“We must get women to embrace the new norm and assist them in making strides towards having a greater digital footprint. This collaboration with WLF to harness the talents that women have and to unleash the full potential of their leadership capabilities is timely, especially given the challenging times the nation has faced for over the last 18 months,” said Mr Michael Yuan.
“The New Normal’ has accelerated the urgency for women to have strong skillsets and competencies to remain relevant. There is a critical need to bridge the widening gaps for digital talent, especially among women, amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
“With talent development a key priority for our company, Huawei has rolled out several initiatives which are geared for training and nurturing digital skills. In essence, these are programmes that serve a common purpose -- which is to encourage more Malaysians to pursue and build ICT skills in order to be a part of a digitally skilled talent pool for the future,” said Ms Rita Irina Abd. Wahab.
As a global technological leader, Huawei has made a strong commitment towards helping industries and governments achieve their mission and vision of developing workforces of tomorrow.
The Huawei ASEAN Academy has worked closely with notable Malaysian corporations and government agencies to provide a clear path in digitalisation programmes, as well as in empowering digital talents across various businesses and technology sectors. It aims to develop 50,000 ICT talents in five years, in addition to enriching the supply of industry talents and improving the quality of professional talents.
