On 7 February the Oxford Department of International Development (ODID) and the Technology and Management Centre for Development (TMCD) co-hosted the Distinguished Guest Lecture delivered by Victor Zhang, the CEO of Huawei Technologies (华为) UK. The lecture was entitled "Huawei Story: Embraces Challenges and Improvements Never Ends". Professor Valpy FitzGerald Chaired the Lecture and Professor Xiaolan Fu, TMCD Director, introduced Huawei Technologies and Mr Zhang.

Huawei Technologies was set up in 1987 and is now the world's largest telecommunications equipment maker. Mr Zhang was appointed General Manager and Chief Operating Officer of Huawei UK in April 2010 and was confirmed as Huawei UK Chief Executive Officer in 2011. He joined Huawei Europe in June 2004 and has worked in a number of roles. As Head of Solution and Strategy for Huawei UK & Ireland, he worked closely on the BT Account, including the 21CN Transmission & Access Agreement and the Next Generation Access Network (“NGA”) Project. Before joining Huawei Europe, he worked in the Research & Development Department at the company’s headquarters in Shenzhen. Mr Zhang joined Huawei Technologies in April 1998 after attaining an MBA from Northwestern Polytechnical University, China.