Two chess masters, who inspire youths within their localities to embrace the competitive board game, will this week be celebrated on Globacom-sponsored African Voices Changemakers, a magazine programme of the Cable News Network (CNN).

The 30-minute engaging programme will feature Nigeria’s Tunde Onakoya who epitomizes selflessness by returning to the slums where he grew up to mentor youngsters who have themselves become stars in chess.  Also to be featured is James Kang’aru Mwangi, a Kenyan who made headlines after being inducted into the prestigious ‘Forbes Africa 30 under 30 for 2021‘on the strength of his prowess in the game.

Onakoya founded ‘Chess in Slums Africa’, an initiative that aims to empower young ones in impoverished communities through the game of chess. The club, which believes every child has the capacity for greatness irrespective of his or her background, has trained over 200 children and got life-long scholarships for 20 of them.

On his part, Mwangi, 28, the first chess player ever on the African continent to receive the Forbes award is a graduate of the Technical University of Kenya (TUK) and CEO of Epitome School of Chess. He honed his chess skills at TUK, which has produced several top players through his university chess club participation.

African Voices Changemakers will be on air this Saturday at 9.30 a.m. on DSTV channel 401 and on Sunday at 4.30 a.m., 7.30 a.m., 12.30 p.m. and 7.30 p.m. Another repeat will be aired on Monday at 4.00 a.m. while a two-part, 15-minute rebroadcast will hold on Tuesday and Wednesday at 6.45 p.m.