News Five visionaries aged under 30 have been selected in the inaugural Rolex Awards for Enterprise: Young Laureates Programme.
Chosen from a pool of nearly 200 candidates worldwide by an international jury of experts, these outstanding social entrepreneurs impressed the judging panel with their passion and conviction to overcome challenges in the areas of science and health, applied technology, exploration, the environment and cultural preservation. The Rolex Young Laureates are:
- Jacob Colker, 26, United States, is changing the way people get involved in community service. His intemet-based programme allows volunteers to use their smartphones to donate spare minutes to charitable and scientific organizations;
- Reese Fernandez, 25, Philippines, is committed to alleviating poverty by training people to become social entrepreneurs. Her Rags2Riches enterprise has already empowered hundreds of women to earn a living by turning scrap materials into elegant fashion accessories;
- Nnaemeka Ikegwuoni, 27, Nigeria, intends to boost the living standards of millions of Nigerian farmers through his interactive, mobile radio network. Hundreds of thousands of rural listeners are already receiving and exchanging information on sustainable farming practices and health issues;
- Piyush Tewari, 29, India, has set up a foundation to train a network of police officers and volunteers to respond quickly to road accidents and administer rapid medical care. By providing immediate assistance to victims, he hopes to stem the thousands of fatalities that occur on Indian roads each year;
- Bruktawit Tigabu, 28, Ethiopia, is building on the success of a television programme on health that she and her husband are producing for preschool children and their parents.
«Rolex is delighted to support these exceptional young men and women who represent the best of their generation,» said Rebecca Irvin, director of philanthropy at Rolex. «In tackling the problems that face humanity, they do not think in traditional ways or stick to old ideas. Their innovative projects have begun to have a profound effect on their own communities, and potentially could improve the lives of millions of people.»
An expansion of the long-standing Rolex Awards for Enterprise, the Young Laureates Programme honours men and women between the ages of 18 and 30 with inventive ideas. Each Young Laureate will receive 50,000 dollars over the course of two years. During the first year, funding of 25,000 dollars each will give the recipients time to focus on their pioneering projects, while the second instalment will help them move forward in implementing them. The Rolex Awards international network of innovators, comprised mainly of former Laureates, is available for guidance and to help the winners take the projects to another stage.
«In this sound-bite world of ours, Rolex is giving a message to these motivated young people to take time to think things through and do their projects right,» said American ecologist Margaret D. Lowman, one of the 10 jury members who chose the winners. «The younger generation really gets it when it cornes to the planet and how the machinery of the earth works. We only need to empower them to act and Rolex is doing this by providing the gift of time.»
Another jury member, Singaporean explorer Khoo Swee Chiow, agreed: «Rolex is giving the Young Laureates time to mature I think preparation is important. That is why, I guess, it took me ten years before I finally climbed Everest.»
On 11 November 2010, Rolex will mark the accomplishments of the Young Laureates at an event at the recently launched Rolex Leaming Center, a hub for educational exchange at the Ecole polytechnique dédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). Experts from related fields, including some former Laureates, will join the celebration.
May 07, 2010
