Huawei Consumer Business Group Vice President for Middle East and Africa, Likun Zhao
from MTHULISI SIBANDA in Cape Town
CAPE TOWN, (CAJ News) – SOUTH African application developers, currently struggling to market their offerings and secure investments, are poised to benefit from the US$1 billion (R14,7 billion) facility Huawei has invested to support developers across global markets.
Following the investment, the Chinese-based technology firm is launching its local developer programme, called Shining-Star, in South Africa, a market that has seen exponential growth in the use of mobile services.
The initiative aims to cover skills training and development, infrastructure and marketing support for developers.
Huawei believes with this aforementioned growth comes a need to develop bespoke local mobile apps that solve the daily problems encountered by South Africans, hence the Shining-Star programme is anticipated to provide an encompassing eco-system that aims to encourage local developer innovation and support.
“We are committed to working on empowering local app developers by offering them some much-needed infrastructure, guidance, skills and support to grow local talent,” said Likun Zhao, Vice President of
Huawei Consumer Business Group, Middle East and Africa.
“Our focus is to provide an open platform for developers that they can use to launch and market their apps, as well as give them extensive support in the form of technical development, testing, and legal and marketing tools.”
The Shining-Star programme has been implemented in other countries such as Malaysia, which has the highest number of Huawei users relative to other smartphone brands in this country.
According to Huawei, Shining-Star will focus on assisting local app developers who face a myriad of challenges, which include a lack of funding for app eco-systems, testing, and monetisation of their apps.
Huawei Mobile Services already has more than 570 million global users, including more than 15 million in Africa, with the business covering more than 170 countries.
“We provide a trusted, device-centric and inter-connected eco-system that improves the user experience, helping them to discover quality content while ensuring security and privacy,’’ Zhao added.
– CAJ News