Five trailblazers, who have devoted their time and energy to enhance lives while safeguarding the planet for future generations, have been selected as part of the 2023 Laureates of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise.
Since its inception in 1976, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise has supported 160 Laureates whose projects have made a profound impact in 65 countries. Aligned with Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise embody its values. With a century-long tradition of supporting explorers and innovators who advance our understanding of the natural world, Rolex reaffirmed its commitment in 2019 through the Perpetual Planet Initiative, which supports efforts to address environmental challenges and restore balance to ecosystems.
Unlike many other award programmes, the Rolex Awards focus on rewarding new or ongoing projects rather than past accomplishments. Candidates, aged 18 or older, face no academic or professional prerequisites and there are no gender or nationality restrictions — anyone from anywhere can apply for a Rolex Award. With Laureates representing 51 nationalities and projects spanning 65 countries, the programme boasts a global reach.
The assistance provided by Rolex to award recipients since the programme’s inception has had a catalysing effect, often leading to transformative changes in both individual lives and communities. It has sparked fresh perspectives on addressing shared challenges, spanning from developing life-enhancing technologies to preserving endangered ecosystems, safeguarding oceans, exploring untapped frontiers, and spearheading advancements in science and healthcare.
This acknowledgement of selected candidates traces its roots back nearly a century when Rolex supported pioneering explorers who pushed the limits of human achievement. Evolving from a focus on exploration for discovery’s sake, Rolex has transitioned to a commitment to safeguarding the planet. Rolex now stands dedicated to supporting individuals and organisations employing science to comprehend and address today’s environmental challenges for the long term.
To take this commitment a step further, Rolex’s Perpetual Planet Initiative was introduced in 2019. Initially, it was centred on individuals making positive contributions to the world through the Rolex Awards for Enterprise. It expanded to include the protection of oceans in partnership with Mission Blue and efforts to comprehend climate change through a longstanding collaboration with the National Geographic Society.
The Perpetual Planet Initiative has broadened its scope to include a diverse range of partnerships such as Cristina Mittermeier and Paul Nicklen’s conservation photography, Rewilding Argentina and Rewilding Chile’s efforts to protect South American landscapes, Coral Gardeners’ resilient coral transplantation projects, Steve Boyes’ Great Spine of Africa expeditions focusing on major river basins, Under The Pole expeditions advancing underwater exploration, the B.I.G. expedition’s 2023 North Pole mission to gather Arctic threat data, and the Monaco Blue Initiative uniting ocean conservation experts.
In the beginning
Established in 1976 by André J Heiniger, then CEO of Rolex, the Rolex Awards commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s inaugural waterproof wristwatch. Initially conceived as a one-time event, the awards garnered such widespread international attention that Rolex extended them into an enduring programme.
Since its inception, the Rolex Awards have epitomised the company’s commitment to global betterment — an ethos that drives its Perpetual Planet Initiative today. According to Heiniger: “We launched the Rolex Awards for Enterprise with the conviction that as a company, we have a responsibility to actively contribute to improving life on our planet and to nurture cherished values: quality, innovation, determination, and, above all, a spirit of enterprise.”
Since the 1930s, founder Hans Wilsdorf saw the world as a dynamic laboratory and used it as a testing ground for his watches, dispatching them to the most extreme environments and supporting explorers venturing into uncharted territories. However, times have evolved. In the 21st century, the company has transitioned from advocating exploration solely for discovery’s sake to prioritising planet protection.
Within its expanding network of partnerships, the initiative encompasses the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, an intensified collaboration with the National Geographic Society to investigate climate change impacts, and Sylvia Earle’s Mission Blue initiative, dedicated to safeguarding the oceans via a network of marine-protected “Hope Spots”.
Mission Blue collaborates with local communities, aiding them in advocating for marine conservation. Additionally, the organisation strives to enhance awareness regarding the intrinsic value of thriving oceans, crucial for sustaining life on Earth. From coral reefs and fish to seagrass and mangroves, all contribute to preserving the integrity of our seas and the planet as a whole.
Additionally, Rolex backs organisations and initiatives nurturing the future generations of explorers, scientists, and conservationists through scholarships and grants, including the Our World-Underwater Scholarship Society and The Rolex Explorers Club Grants.
Who are these exceptional individuals?
To win a Rolex Award requires having an original, visionary project that is capable of benefiting humanity and/or the planet, coupled with the skills and determination to execute it. Projects across various domains including the environment, science and health, applied technology, cultural heritage, and exploration are eligible for consideration. They are judged on their originality and the impact they have on the world at large, as well as on the candidates’ “spirit of enterprise”.
The Rolex Awards are overseen at the company’s headquarters in Geneva. Each application undergoes thorough analysis by researchers, and the most promising entries are evaluated with input from specialists in relevant fields. Since the programme’s inception in 1976, approximately 37,000 individuals have applied for Rolex Awards.
A shortlist of applications is then reviewed by an independent, interdisciplinary jury of experts. The composition of the jury varies for each series of the Awards and typically includes professionals such as conservationists, doctors, educators, innovators, explorers, and scientists.
Past judges have included notable figures like Sir Edmund Hillary and Junko Tabei, the first man and woman to summit Mount Everest (in 1953 and 1975 respectively), environmental advocate Yolanda Kakabadse, astronaut Chris Hadfield, former Commander of the International Space Station, leading geneticist Steve Jones, and astrophysicist Brian Schmidt, a Nobel laureate and prominent climate change advocate.
Since 1976, the Rolex Awards Laureates have comprised an exceptional group of individuals hailing from diverse geographic regions and possessing a wide array of skills. This esteemed cohort includes archaeologists, architects, educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, explorers, filmmakers, geologists, medical doctors, microbiologists, mountaineers, physicists, primatologists, sociologists, veterinarians and wildlife biologists.
In each biennial edition of the Awards, five Laureates are selected. Each recipient receives funding to execute their project and joins the esteemed network of Rolex Laureates, many of whom engage in collaborative efforts. Let’s take a closer look at the endeavours of the five new Laureates:
Constantino Aucca Chutas
The biologist will be scaling up his community-centred forest ecosystem restoration and protection programme in the high Andes. He founded Asociación Ecosistemas Andinos (ECOAN) in 2000 and co-founded Acción Andina in 2018, and has planted 4.5 million trees, engaged more than 60 local communities, and created 16 protected areas in the mountains across Peru and other high Andean countries.
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Beth Koigi
The young Kenyan social entrepreneur will be providing solar-powered generators harvesting water from air to 3,000 people in 10 communities who need clean water resources. Since co-founding her start-up in 2017, Koigi’s atmospheric water generators are produced over 200,000 litres of clean water per month to over 1,900 people. The potential impact of this innovative technology is enormous; in Koigi’s native Kenya half the population lack access to clean drinking water while, according to the UN, half the world’s population could be living in areas of high water stress by 2030.
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Inza Koné
The primatologist will be protecting a richly biodiverse forest in Côte d’Ivoire while safeguarding its endangered fauna and reducing poverty in the area. After years of work with people in the area, Koné’s efforts resulted in the Tanoé-Ehy Forest becoming a community-managed natural reserve in 2021. The Rolex Award will enable Koné to continue preserving its outstanding biodiversity, supporting community management and encouraging sustainable livelihoods for people in the region.
Denica Riadini-Flesch
The social entrepreneur will be expanding her regenerative farm-to-closet clothing supply chain, strengthening women’s empowerment and preserving local Indonesian cultures. After a successful academic career as an economist, Riadini-Flesch founded SukkhaCitta, working with rural craftswomen in Indonesia to provide them with business skills, environmental stewardship education, and customers in 32 countries.
Liu Shaochuang
The remote sensing specialist will be studying wild camels’ habitats in view of creating two new conservation reserves to save the last remaining wild herds. Drawing on his scientific expertise, having played a key role in developing China’s Lunar and Mars rovers, Liu Shaochuang will satellite track wild camels in the Gobi Desert regions of China and Mongolia to support their future conservation.
