Irvine Partners public relations and integrated marketing agency has been awarded the Huawei Technologies corporate communications account.
The agency will serve as the communications partner for Huawei’s South African corporate office.
“We are excited to have Irvine Partners on board and look forward to a rewarding working relationship based on their track record and ability to hit the ground running,” says Huawei’s Media and Communications Manager, Vanashree Govender.
Irvine Partners’ mandate will be to communicate Huawei’s significant local impact — both in terms of a tangible commitment to social responsibility and its contribution to South Africa’s digital transformation and economic growth.
The agency will also handle all media enquiries and liaison around Huawei corporate.
“We believe there is significant scope to grow awareness around Huawei’s investment and long-term commitment to doing business in South Africa and we are delighted to partner with them in achieving that,” says Irvine Partners CEO, Rachel Irvine.
Also read: Huawei CEO: We Won’t Give Up The Ideal Of Globalisation
Huawei’s CEO Ren Zhengfei has pledged to stick to a globalisation strategy despite external pressure. He has called on the new US administration to come up with more open policies that are in the interests of US companies and the US economy as a whole.
These are the first public remarks the Huawei founder has made since the change of the US administration in January.
In May 2019, the US commerce department added, Huawei into the Entity List, which prohibits the company from purchasing US technologies as well as software services. In 2020, the Trump administration further restricted Huawei from purchasing semiconductor products and cancelled licenses for existing suppliers.
Last month, Joe Biden took charge of the White House and Ren expects that the new U.S. president could bring an improvement in ties between the two parties as well as businesses.
Ren was speaking during a press briefing on Tuesday in Taiyuan, the capital city of China’s northern Shanxi province, after launching the Intelligent Mining Innovation Lab.
“Trade benefits both sides. Allowing US companies to supply goods to Chinese customers is conducive to their own financial performance. If Huawei’s production capacity expands, US companies could us sell more. It’s a win-win situation. I believe the new administration will weigh these interests as they consider their policies,” said Ren.
Ren stated that Huawei creates value for the whole ecosystem and the wider economy. He cited the example of Huawei built 5G networks in many cities in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, and its networks in Europe top global network performance tests, benefiting all the users on those networks.
