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Huawei Seeds for the Future

Pragya Mallick

Huawei Seeds for the Future Experience Sharing Of Pragya Mallick

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30th October 2022, Kathmandu

It was on a regular day in mid-June 2022 that I first got the invitation to apply to Huawei’s CSR flagship initiative “Seeds for the Future” 2022 program. I had just completed my finals for my 6th semester and was on my semester break ready for something new.

I applied immediately recognizing what a fantastic opportunity it might be if I got selected. Needless to say, I didn’t expect the call from Huawei’s PR Mr. Supral Raj Joshi congratulating me for being shortlisted for the interview. I was beyond ecstatic and even more so on receiving another call from Mr. Joshi on the eve of the interview saying I had been selected as one of the seven delegates from Nepal for Huawei’s Asia Pacific Seeds for the Future 2022.

My first meeting with the rest of my teammates was at our first Seeds for the Future event organized by Huawei Nepal at the Ncell Data Center located in Nakkhu, Lalitpur.

Buzzing with excitement and a bit nervous, I reached the venue an hour early. After the rest of the group had arrived, we got an interesting and engaging tour of the facility where we were allowed to see firsthand all the equipment and critical systems of the enterprise for computation, data storage, and networks. After the visit, we all went to the Huawei office where I got the first chance to chat with the rest of my team and get to know each other.

I realized that day that I had truly been blessed with the most unique and worthy team members to be with on this amazing journey together.

We also got a chance to visit the UNESCO office for the Next 50 campaign, the China Culture Centre, and the Dish Home office where we were exposed to industry work life and the real problems shaping the world today.

The opening ceremony for the program in Nepal was held on Aug 16th, a couple of days before our departure to Bangkok for the main program. We left Nepal with huge expectations, a thirst for knowledge, and a determination to win.  

On reaching Bangkok, Thailand on Aug 18th, our whole team along with our PR was more than ready to join the activities with all the other delegates from the Asia Pacific region. There was a total of 24 teams from 16 different countries.

We participated in a lot of activities, events, and classes throughout our stay in Thailand. The first four days were spent in Bangkok where we had a visit to the United Nations ESCAP office, Assumption University, and the Huawei office in Bangkok. We also visited the local tourist attractions such as The Grand Palace, the Wat Pho temple, and had a cruise dinner over the Chao Phraya River.

We also had a Metaverse Expo and a Global Village program where delegates from all the countries showcased their country’s culture.

Then we spent the remaining days in Hua Hin where we got to learn about AI, Cloud Computing, 5G, digital power, and leadership.

We also participated in the Tech4Good project competition which aimed to solve any environmental or social issue with the use of technology. Nepal was selected as one of the 7 winners among all 24 teams for the accelerator camp in Singapore. We were overjoyed to win and left happily for Singapore on Aug 28th.

In Singapore, we were assigned mentors for the whole duration of the camp where we had workshops and seminars on building business models and value propositions for our innovations and on building our careers. We also had a visit to the Huawei office in Singapore, and universities like SUTD, NTU, SMU, and NUS. Thus, after a two-week-long unforgettable journey, we came back to Nepal where we had a short visit to a Huawei-built 4G base station in Muktinath in late September.

The experiences and the memories that I gained from Seeds for the Future are unparalleled to any I’ve ever experienced before. From day one, this journey has had so many memorable events that I’m beyond thankful for. I express my immeasurable gratitude to Huawei for giving me this excellent opportunity to represent Nepal among all the countries in the Asia Pacific region.

I count myself lucky to have been given such a unique learning experience from industry professionals on recent technological advancements and innovations.

But above all, I’m most grateful for the friendships and the bonds that I created along the way which I never would’ve had the chance to do otherwise. I consider it an honor that I could be a part of all the delegates’ journey as they were of mine. I sincerely wish each delegate of Seeds for the Future 2022 Asia Pacific region all the best and hope that our paths cross again in the future.

Huawei Seeds Winner

Huawei Seeds for the Future Experience Sharing Of Nadika Poudel

25th October 2022, Kathmandu

I had known about the ‘Seeds For Future’  program when my friend participated in it in the first batch and was something I was thinking to apply it the next year. However, when the application for ‘Seeds for Future’22 ‘ was out, I was quite confused because it had a high chance to collide with my final exams. However, I decided to go for it.

The application was pretty simple, wrote about my journey in tech and how this program would impact my career goals, in the 500 words motivation letter.

Then, after a few weeks, I got a text message from Huawei saying I was selected for the interview round and later got a call to fix my interview time. In my interview, I was asked about frontend development,5G, AI, and the goals I aspire to achieve with this program. I was even appreciated by Timila  Yami Ma’am for my confidence and clarity about my goals through the program.

I also got an invitation from Subarna Shakya sir to attend an international conference of IEEE to be held at the Himalayan Hotel, after an interview as he liked my talks on e-governance during the interview. Later, on the same day, I got a call from the Public Relations Officer of Huwaei, Supral Joshi sir about my selection in the program and my acceptance as he mentioned that I might miss my final exam.

I looked through the program in detail and talked to my professors from Pulchowk Campus, and finally decided to accept myself as a delegate for ‘Huawei Seeds For Future’22 ‘. Later, when my exam routine got published, luckily I wouldn’t need to miss any of my exams.

As a first pre-event, we had a visit to the Ncell Datacenter in Nakkhu which has also been the best pre-event for me as we could learn so much about how a data center works and how one looks like. Also, we had a round table discussion on UNSESCO and a visit to the DishHome office. Also, we had a grand opening ceremony on Hyatt Palace.

Now, it was time for us to explore the dynamic city of Bangkok where we visited Huawei’s office, UNESCAP, Thailand Metaverse Expo, Royal Princess Cruise, Asiatique, and World Palace. In the global village program held at the Assumption University of Thailand, we exchanged our culture and tasted amazing cuisine from different parts of the world. Also, our stay at the Grand Fortune Hotel had been amazing. Then we moved to Huahin, Thailand where we has classes on AI,5G, Cloud Computing, and Digital Power and also given my evaluation exams.

There, we stayed at the ‘Holiday Inn’ Resort, which was absolutely amazing. We were also excited by our visit to the beach and cocktail party at Hotel Marriot. Apart from our visit to different places in Thailand, we were also able to secure our position among the Top 7 teams to go for an accelerator camp to Singapore with our project Advait, in the Tech4Good competition.

Advait is a system built to verify the authenticity of medicines using Blockchain Technology. This system would detect all the fake medicines and also track the expiry date and price of medicines.

Though my journey was going amazing, I, unfortunately, caught Covid on the final days. Keeping in mind, my health condition and my final exam which was starting after 3 days, I decided to go back to my country and couldn’t attend the accelerator camp in Singapore.

Back after our international programs, we had a visit to 4G Tower in Mustang and also explored the miraculous nature of Mustang and Pokhara; and finally concluded the program with a grand closing ceremony at Hyatt Palace, Kalimati.

In a nutshell, ‘Seeds for Future’ program by Huawei has been a life-changing experience for me as it not just provided me with technical learnings but also gave me international exposure where I could meet people from 16 different countries and build life-long friendships with them.

It also boosted my self-confidence and I can finally say that “I am ready for any adventure life has for me”.