Kenya in the last few years has been looking east for business and partnerships. Kenya has established a close relationship with China in the last few years. But you may be surprised to know that China was the 4th country to establish an embassy in Kenya on the 14th of December 2014.
After years of dealing with the west and putting the east aside Kenya has reestablished its links with China and hopes to partner to mutually improve trade ties and also promote business especially tourism between the two countries.
Chinese companies are seeing the opportunities in Kenya to develop business and also to train students to become better skilled in the technical field. AVIC INTERNATIONAL HOLDING CORPORATION is a Chinese state-owned company that has numerous government projects in African countries. In Kenya, they have just established a TVET (Technical, Vocational, and Entrepreneurship Training) project together with the Ministry of Education, Science, and Technology to supply, install, and commission electrical and electronic engineering equipment to TVET Institutions. This engineering equipment has the capacity to convert Kenya into a manufacturing country and improve the industrial state of the nation.
The TVET aims to develop critical mass of manpower needed to achieve vision 2030. It also will drive industrialization and increase the skill set of the students who take part in the project. Skill training ensures that the experiences acquired are enriched and facilitates the establishment of a culture of adherence to good work ethics, precision, and diligence in the workplace. The TVET system also promotes such ideals as technology and knowledge transfer, sharing of resources, joint program development, research and social integration. Through programs such the robot contest and TVET fair exhibition, the TVET system promotes a culture of innovation. Further, closer linkages between the teaching of entrepreneurship and commercialization of innovations must not be underplayed.
In the first Phase of implementing this charity program, AVIC have decided to launch a project called Africa Tech Challenge.
Africa Tech Challenge (ATC)
Africa Tech Challenge is the first project under this initiative and is designed to cultivate the spirit of entrepreneurship. It is a nationwide competition for students from technical training institutions in Kenya. It is a platform for discovery and learning as they will get training and knowledge.
The competition is about the students manufacturing a spare part of any one of the machines that they have been supplying the technical institutes with. The best two teams will be picked according to the best manufactured spare parts.
AWARDS TO THE FINALISTS:
1) CONTRACT -After the competition, these two teams will now be given a chance to manufacture a huge quantity of these spare parts and AVIC International will assist them to sign contracts with various Chinese manufacturing companies to sell their products to them.
2) MONEY – The top three teams will be awarded a certain amount of money for each team member to congratulate them for their hard work and recognize their efforts. (500$ each for the winning team students, 400$ each for team number two students and 300$ for team number three students) as well as trophies and certificates.
3) RAW MATERIALS: AVIC will also award the winning team with raw materials to start off their own self employment and entrepreneurship
Contest time
Preliminary contest Training :21 July-6 August, 2014
Venue : Technical University of Kenya
Preliminary contest : 7 August-8 August, 2014
Final Contest Training : 11 August -6 September, 2014
Venue: Technical University of Kenya
Final Contest : 7 September
