Organized in partnership with The World’s 50 Best Restaurants and S. Pellegrino, the Champions of Change awards announced three new winners in their second year. Dieuveil Malonga, the chef of Meza Malonga in Kigali, Rwanda and Chefs in Africa, Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina, the founders of London-based #CookforUkraine, and Koh Seng Choon, the founder of Dignity Kitchen, were deemed worthy of the award for their social and humanitarian work.

This year’s winners have been chosen from among local heroes who are creating positive change in the hospitality industry and their communities. 50 Best will donate a substantial amount to all award winners to continue and grow their ventures.

Champions of Change 2022

Dieuveil Malonga
The thirty-year-old African chef is Meza Malonga and the founder of Chefs in Africa. Malonga explains its mission as “to write a new history of gastronomy with its roots in Africa”.

Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina
London-based friends Olia Hercules and Alissa Timoshkina founded the food donation initiative #CookforUkraine after the outbreak of war in Hercules’ birthplace Ukraine. To date, they have managed to raise around £900,000 in donations.

Koh Seng Choon
Koh Seng Choon is the founder of Dignity Kitchen, the first disabled-run food court in Asia. Choon’s initiative serves as a school for disabled and disadvantaged people to enter business life.