The award-winning MiniChess and MindCo programmes were developed by Marisa van der Merwe in South Africa and are now implemented in nine countries, as well as online across borders. She won the Shoprite Checkers Women of the Year Award (Education) in 2012, is a recognised international speaker, an Ashoka Fellow, and a trustee of the Entrust Foundation (a non-profit PBO championing community empowerment in disadvantaged communities).

This play-based approach helps learners move past barriers of age, gender, culture, language and physical ability. It is interactive, joyful, meaningful and social, while developing resilience, creativity, thinking and reflection, cooperation and emotional skills.

The MiniChess Program Impact:

1) Early childhood education, shaping the future, not only of individuals and communities, but of the country’s knowledge capital in the 21st century. Starting early, and starting smart, is the best way to harness the most powerful energy in the world, human talent.

2) In-community collaboration and empowerment, delivered through a network of local project implementers as micro-franchisees, is key to mobilising a country of social entrepreneurs, rooted in sustainable leadership and driven by a compelling force for the common good.

3) Change-makers in education are building the global future, and are invited to invest in pattern-breaking, powerful, education innovations and the people behind them.

MiniChess and MindCo in South Africa has impacted 100,000+ children and 1500+ trained teachers. We also serve five countries in Africa as well as two countries in Central Asia, New Zealand and China, with a successful pilot program in the USA and starting in Germany.

“Health is the priority, but education is the solution.” – Gordon Brown, UN Envoy for Education.

The COVID-19 crisis disrupted education globally, with long-lasting effects. MiniChess and MindCo form part of a new generation education strategy, fast-tracking the development of critical skills through interdisciplinary, integrated learning innovations that meet emerging workplace demands.

Corporate leadership needs to be visionary:

• Education is the root of future potential.
• Protecting future-relevant education supports recovery across industries and helps include everyone.
• See education support as an investment in future skills and long-term sustainability, building a more prosperous future.