Malawi's IT Wizards

Serah Chilora      05 August 2022 10:30      114

Recently President Lazarus Chakwera launched the National Youth Service arguing that youths are game changers and play a huge role in the economy of the country. As Serah Chilora writes, four students from the Malawi University of Business And Applied Sciences (MUBAS) and Malawi University of Science and Technology (MUST) were chosen to represent Africa at the first ever International Cybersecurity Competition in Athens, Greece.

The youth constitute largest section of Malawi's population and often times there have been concerns that the youth are idle a development which breeds bad behaviours. In the same vein, time and again the governmnet has been asked to create jobs for the youth who are said to be the leaders of not tomorrow but now.

News that 23-year-old Enoch Singano, a fourth-year Bachelor of Science in Information Technology student and three others represented Malawi and Africa at the International Cybersecurity Competition is good. The others are Tracy Tsitsi from MUBAS, Evelyn Howahowa and Hope Mlebe from MUST.

The four demonstrate the potential youth have in transforming Malawi. Not only Malawi is being put on the map for good news but the idea that these students and the selection panel saw potential in them is something worth celebrating.

Often times we look down on our education systems and we question what the graduates from our various public universities are doing with the skills and knowledge attained during study. This recognition shows confidence in our universities in as far as competing with other African countries in concerned.

The International CyberSecurity Competition (ICC) was the first-ever International Cybersecurity Competition organized by the European Union Agency for Cybersecurity (ENISA) and has attracted more than 4,000 young talents in cybersecurity with 7 teams competing.

Singano, who is a Certified Ethical Hacker (Practical) credential from EC-Council was first recognized by his school following his skills and achievements in the cybersecurity field.

"The selection criteria for all participants were university students studying either Computer Science, IT or Cybersecurity programs with strong technical skills in the mentioned fields. After names of several students from multiple African countries were proposed to form the African cyber team known as AFRICC (Africa Region to International Cybersecurity Competition), the final team of 15 was to be selected based on practical assessment we were given in December 2021, which I gladly passed with flying colours and made it to the final 15," Enoch said.

The competition aims at attracting young talent from the globe to raise awereness on education and skills needed in the area of cybersecurity. Singano and the other carried the Malawian flag and Africa in showcasing the hidden cybersecurity talents Malawi has on international platforms.

At the first-ever Internation Cybersecurity Competition (ICC) students showcased and solved various cybersecurity challenges in the digital era and internet are now facing in the cyberspace such malware (virus) analysis. "Contestants were also challenged in solving security related tasks from domains such as cryptography puzzles, hardware IoT hacking, system hardening, web application exploitation, reverse engineering, digital forensics, attack and defense challenges," he said.

The four come in the footsteps of another celebrated engineer who is also a lecturer of Telecommunications at MUBAS Mayamiko Nkoloma. Nkoloma has on several occasions represented Malawi on the international scene for his innovative works through his company called iMoSyS, a growing company which is championing developing and deployments of Internet of Things (IoT).

The company propagates applications to enable connectivity for remote monitoring of Industrial processes, infrastructure and environmental aspects. Sometime in 2020, he was part of of the team that was awarded the Cambridge-Africa Alborada Research Fund Covid-19 Emergency Awards to conduct project on Rapid Response to the Covid-19 crisis using digital fabrication in Malawi.

Such developments should give us confidence that Malawi has the potential to raise the flag high. Governmnets and the various players should take keen interest in promoting such talents and boast the innovation sector as the world is going digital. The country has talent, skills and youths who are passionate about technology.

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