Entrust Foundation
The Entrust Foundation is an Non-Profit Organisation in South Africa, which works to empower people of South Africa by focusing on early child development, education and innovation programmes in primary and secondary schools (for 21st century relevance), and in-community youth and women empowerment focused on sustainable future in this fast changing 21st century.
The founders of Entrust Foundation describes the organisation to put emphasis on the huge education crisis from pre-school age and up, with more than 50% of the children dropping out of school prematurely, and the low reading and mathematics competency stunting children’s future success. By focusing on these issues, the Entrust Foundation projects delivers life-changing results, academic turn-around, and more.
The Inter-generational cycle of poverty is unfortunately being escalated by current youth unemployment (reaching about 75%). Local women and youth are being trained and mentored by Entrust Foundation to be their implementation partners in their communities.
The foundation runs projects in rural, township and inner-city disadvantaged schools and communities, with capacity in all provinces of South Africa. As tools, they are utilising the MiniChess- and MindCo game-based training-innovation programmes.
The Entrust Foundation is an accredited NPO, overseen by a Board of trustees, and also has PBO (Public Benefits Organisation) with section 18A accreditation.
The award-winning MiniChess & MindCo programs were developed by Marisa van der Merwe in South Africa and are now being implemented in 9 countries as well as Online over-borders. She won the Shoprite-Checkers Women of the Year award (Category Education) in 2012, is a recognized international speaker, an Ashoka Fellow, and is a Trustee of The Entrust Foundation (a non-profit PBO, championing community empowerment in disadvantaged communities). The play-based engagement moves over barriers of age, gender, culture, language, and physical abilities – is interactive, joyful, meaningful, and social, while developing resilience, creativity, thinking/reflection, cooperation, and emotional skills.
The MiniChess stable of Capacity-building programs is a Game-changer for the 21st Century education – utilizing complex and creative play-innovations to develop critical skills from the early ages, for a sustainable future for humans in the time of smart machines.
Through working with MiniChess, Entrust Foundation has reached 250,000+ learners through their creative play-innovation (including socio-emotional and STEM-skills), and 1300+ teachers/in-community partners being trained.
A successful pilot program was implemented at WITS in 2018 with medical professionals and with in-community entrepreneurs (under the MiniChess banner) in collaboration with Xpand South Africa. In December 2018 MindCompany Unlimited officially registered its name and Company! In 2019 the first franchises were sold to Professionals and Entrepreneurs and it has grown from strength to strength since. In 2020 MindCo went digital with their state of the art MC-platform, which allows trainees to do Online-live classes and still have the interaction with other group members, but from the safety of their own homes OR anywhere on the Globe!
In 2021 MindCo Unlimited presented a successful MindCo-Jnr program for the internationally acclaimed Galilieo XP Organization (leader in Distant Learning) which has evolved into a professional relationship between the two entities. MindCo Unlimited has already expanded into a couple of Countries, and is currently in discussions to break into the American and European Markets.
MindCo is currently also expanding into the area of Systems-thinking.
For further information about the organisation and its initiatives, please visit:
