Two students from the Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) were among six university students from Malawi who have made it into the Southern Africa regional Huawei ICT Competition finals.

Christian Murotho, a 4th year Bachelor of Science in Computer Systems and Security student scooped first position in the Network track of the national competition. 

On the other hand, Tionge Mughogho, also a 4th year student for the same academic programme at MUST, came out third in the Cloud track. 

The two are now part of a group of six students from Malawi, three under each track, that will represent the country at the regional finals. 

Speaking in an interview, Christian said he was excited by the win.

“Winning at this stage of the competition was a happy and satisfying experience. Satisfied that all the hard work I had put in had finally paid off. Honestly, this is a huge motivation and I will work harder and achieve more,” Christian said.

He advised fellow students to try their luck in such competitions, saying they can open one’s doors to life changing opportunities. 

“With the right mindset, you can never lose. You either win or learn something new, so let students go out there and give it their very best,” said Christian.

Another group of ICT students from MUST, which also includes Tionge, recently emerged champions in a Southern Africa regional cyber security competition and are expected to participate at the global finals in the USA.

Huawei, a global ICT company, has been running the 2022/23 ICT competition since June 2022 with students from various colleges and universities in Malawi participating. 

The company recently held the Malawi national finals of the competition for Cloud and Network tracks where out of over 300 students who participated in the preliminary exams of the competition, 52 qualified for the national finals where the six emerged winners on January 28, 2023.