You Can Help Rolex Spend Its Money on Good Causes
For the past four decades, Rolex SA has been supporting trailblazing scientists and explorers through its Awards for Enterprise.
(Bloomberg) -- For the past four decades, Rolex SA has been supporting trailblazing scientists and explorers through its Awards for Enterprise. This year it’s letting the rest of us help choose the recipients.
Since 1976 the Swiss watch giant has used the awards to honor five individuals working on projects that support work in science, health, technology, and exploration. Winners receive 200,000 Swiss francs (almost $200,000) to advance their projects, along with a Rolex chronometer and access to a network of mentors.
Now, for the first time, members of the public can vote on 10 finalists through the Rolex website, which profiles the applicants and the work they hope to accomplish.
Voting is open from May 6 to June 12, with the winners announced on June 14. A jury of experts will take the public votes into consideration when making the final selection.
Drawing Attention
“These are all great projects,” says Rebecca Irvin, who heads the Rolex Awards for Enterprise program. “We want all of them to get exposure and get recognition.”
While helping the finalists gain publicity was one of the main reasons for the change, the company also hopes the open voting will better inform the public about the awards program in general, as well as the philanthropic work Rolex is doing.
“It’s one of the oldest and most prestigious corporate awards programs,” Irvin explains. “It was a pity that people didn’t know more about it.”
Rolex has already received tens of thousands of votes through the website, with voters tweeting and sharing their favorite projects—another way the awards are gaining more exposure.
Finalists this year include a 25-year-old Canadian entrepreneur working to recycle unrecyclable plastic waste, a Swiss medical scientist helping paralyzed people walk again, and an Argentine conservationist who hopes to save the world’s threatened penguins.
Irvin says the applicants and finalists have been skewing younger in recent years, with a more holistic approach helping these individuals succeed.
Nearly a Thousand Applicants
The finalists, ranging in age from 25 to 49, are from nine countries, selected out of 957 applicants from 111 countries.
Once the public voting wraps up, the finalists will present their projects to participants of the National Geographic Explorers Festival in Washington, D.C., who will also vote.
Then the jury will convene to pick the winners. The 10 jury members, experts in their respective fields, this year include media entrepreneur Mosunmola Abudu, golfer Annika Sorenstam, and Jonathan Baillie, chief scientist of the National Geographic Society.
In theory, there are 13 total votes—10 from the jury, one from Rolex executives, one from the Explorers Festival, and one from the results of the public vote. But Irvin says the public’s impact will likely be greater than just one-thirteenth.
The best applicants, she says, show a spirit of enterprise and a passionate, almost obsessive drive to realize their goals.
Although the prize money will certainly advance the chosen projects, the main value of the award is its ability to raise the recipients’ profiles on an international stage.
“There are other organizations that give out more money,” Irvin says. “The money is not the most important part of the Rolex award, it’s really the recognition and exposure.” The prize is designed to “help with the project but not distort it” she adds, comparing it to seed funding.
Past Winners
The other advantage is the network of past recipients, a 140-person club that counts archaeologist Johan Reinhard, engineer Arthur Zang, and microbiologist Joseph Cook as members.
Kerstin Forsberg, who received a Rolex award in 2016 for her project to protect threatened manta rays, says the program changed her career, bringing international attention to her work and leading to coverage from Time and Fortune magazines. Through the Rolex network she was also able to team up with Barbara Block, a 2012 recipient and Stanford marine biologist, on a project to place satellite tags on manta rays to track their movement. She even received additional funding from Rolex.
“They’ve always been eager to support,” Forsberg says of the Rolex network. “We all really feel like it’s a family.”
As for Irvin, she argues the awards are as relevant today as when they were launched 40 years ago. “It’s almost like a Rolex watch,” she says. “It’s timeless.”
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Rovzar at crovzar@bloomberg.net
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