When Huawei launched its first public cloud data centre in South Africa in 2018, the move signalled more than local investment. It marked South Africa as a tier one region, giving the country early access to new technology from one of the world’s leading infrastructure providers. Seven years later, the Huawei Cloud partner network has grown into one of the fastest expanding ecosystems in sub-Saharan Africa, with nearly 3 000 partners in the region and more than 450 in South Africa, growing at an average of approximately 65% year on year. “We always share this philosophy in the Business2Business, which is partner first,” says Diego Han, Director of Eco-System and Partner Development for sub-Saharan Africa. “We take this market very seriously. It’s a very important market for us and being a tier one region, it means South Africa gets our new technologies and solutions as soon as they’re launched.”
A framework for growth
One of Huawei Cloud's key strengths lies in its full-stack development capability and in-house manufacturing of related technology hardware. This integrated approach enables Huawei to operate with greater cost efficiency and flexibility – advantages that allow us to pass on higher margins and rebates to our partners. In addition, Huawei Cloud has built an open ecosystem that supports partners through co-marketing initiatives and on-the-ground assistance from local teams in South Africa. Partners benefit from a high-performance, cloud-native – and now AI-native – platform with low latency, enhancing both their market visibility and end-customer experience.
In 2021, Huawei simplified its partner ecosystem into two clear frameworks: Grow Cloud and Go Cloud. Grow Cloud covers selling and reselling public cloud services. Go Cloud focuses on joint solutions powered by Huawei’s technology. Partners can choose one or multiple development paths that best align to their business needs and get started by building out their competencies or solutions fast. Within these paths, partners have a choice between Software Partner Development Path, Service Partner Development Path, System Integrator Development Path and Learning Partner Development Path. Each comes with its own policies, benefits and certifications. Instead of dozens of overlapping programmes, every partner now has a single ID in the network, making it far easier to see where they fit and how they can grow. Now partners only need one ID to be part of the network. From there, they choose the path that matches what they do best. “Once you join the partner network, you have only one unified ID and you are certified as a Huawei Cloud partner,” explains Han. “Then you choose the path to build offerings or joint solutions together with Huawei.”
Best case
Huawei may have entered the global cloud market late, but it’s definitely worked in their favour. “We launched the Huawei Cloud brand in South Africa during late 2018. But we built our infrastructure on 100% cloud native technology. We didn’t have the burden of legacy systems,” says Han. Huawei also develops the hardware behind its cloud platform, from servers to racks, and it is one of the only manufacturers in the world. For partners, that means working with a cloud provider that builds every layer of the stack, from the chips through to the services on top. “We have the full capability, the full-stack platform, which not only supports our customers but also allows co-R&D with our partners,” says Han. “Our top priority is empowering our partners to develop unique capabilities.”
Partners here in South Africa and Africa also benefit from what Huawei has already implemented elsewhere. In China (and other regions), the company has developed proven solutions for industries like retail, finance and manufacturing. Local partners can use these as a starting point, then adapt them to their own markets. “What we want is not only for partners to sell our solutions, but to build their own based on our use cases and best practices," says Han. "Every market is different. We want partners to create offerings that suit their own industries and regulations."
Unlocking future economies
Looking ahead, the partner programme is now shifting its focus to AI. Huawei is launching a developer competition in South Africa and rolling out new programmes to grow the community and sharpen local skills through local workshops and certification programmes. “Everybody is talking about AI, and developers are the key element to transform that into commercial value, not only for customers but also for society,” says Han. Huawei has established itself in the public sector and finance, as well as industries like mining, retail and manufacturing. The rise of AI-driven scenarios, from omnichannel retail to smart logistics and digital humans, will open up new opportunities and possibilities for partnerships. “I see huge potential,” ends Han. “It’s a new era for all the ICT players in this market. They have the opportunity to build something which has never been built before, and there will be huge growth in the country's digital economy.”
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