For a group of selected youngsters from Africa such as Makwiti Tapiwa Mpofu from Zimbabwe and Boateng Anthony from Ghana, taking part in a recent contest in Beijing helped them to show their talent and make their dreams come true.

They won the first prize at the Africa Tech Challenge IX, a vocational skills competition held in Beijing last week.

"I want to thank the ATC for making the efforts to help talented youngsters in Africa and letting us showcase our talent here in the capital city of China," said Mpofu, a student at Ningbo Polytechnic, a vocational college in Zhejiang province. "I do hope the ATC will continue to let the African students be proud of what they can do and help them to live their dreams."

Anthony, who studies architecture at Rizhao Polytechnic in Shandong province, said he wants to thank all of the organizers of the skills competition "for helping to make our dreams come true".

He added that, "We hope to use this experience and knowledge gained from this contest to contribute to the construction industry in our nations."

A total of 73 young people from seven African countries — Cameroon, Cote d'Ivoire, Ghana, Senegal, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Rwanda — took part in the ATC IX, which was co-hosted by the China Education Association for International Exchange and AVIC International Holding, the international trade wing of Aviation Industry Corp of China, a State-owned aircraft conglomerate.

All of the contestants were selected from African students at vocational colleges in China.

They competed in skills tests in two categories: programmable logic controller technology and computer-aided design in architectural engineering.

The first ATC was organized by AVIC International Holding in 2014 in Kenya. Since then, nine contests have taken place, attracting nearly 1,300 participants from 10 African countries.

Zhong Sijun, deputy general manager of AVIC International Holding, said that by holding the skills contest, his company aims to enhance the vocational competence of African youth and promote cooperation in vocational education between China and Africa.

Shi Yue, an organizer of the recent contest in Beijing, said the subjects of the contest were carefully chosen because organizers wished to select the most useful skills in the economic development in most African countries.

"We want to give the African youngsters knowledge and expertise that they can use to build their own countries," she said.