Rolex announces the 5 winners
of the Awards For Enterprise

Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim

Rolex has announced the five pioneers who have won the Rolex Award for Enterprise for their bold and visionary projects with the potential to help reinvent the future. The five men and women from Brazil, Chad, Nepal, the United Kingdom and the United States include a marine scientist, an environmentalist, a polar explorer, a social entrepreneur and a geographer and climate activist. The Rolex Awards were created 45 years ago to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Oyster, the world's first waterproof wristwatch. Through this programme, the House supports individuals whose innovative projects expand our knowledge of the world, protect the environment - helping to preserve habitats and species - and improve the well-being of humanity. And here we come to the names of the winners. Hindou Oumarou Ibrahim, from Chad, leverages the traditional knowledge of indigenous peoples to map natural resources and prevent climate conflicts in the Sahel. Felix Brooks-church, from the US, combats malnutrition in Tanzania by equipping rural mills with a 'doser' that adds essential micronutrients to flour to enrich staple foods. Rinzin Phunjok Lama, from Nepal, works to protect the extraordinarily rich ecosystems in the Transhimalayana region, home to globally threatened mammals, by involving local communities. Gina Moseley, from the UK, intends to lead the first expedition to explore the planet's northernmost caves in order to improve our knowledge of climate change in the Arctic. Luiz Rocha, from Brazil, is committed to exploring and protecting mesophotic coral reefs and their biodiversity in the Indian Ocean, and aims to strengthen the conservation of these largely unknown ecosystems. The Rolex Awards are one of the three pillars of Rolex's Perpetual Planet initiative, which supports individuals who contribute to a better world. For the time being, the initiative also includes Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue programme to protect the oceans and an extended partnership with National Geographic, Rolex's partner since 1954, to understand climate change through science. "Rolex has long been aware of its responsibility: to make its contribution to the creation of a sustainable, perpetual planet," said Arnaud Boetsch, Director of Communications and Image at Rolex. "More than venturing into the unknown and discovering unexplored lands, the new generation of explorers is committed to protecting the planet. The five winners are typical examples of these guardians of the future." The five Winners, who will see their projects funded and benefit from other advantages such as worldwide resonance, were selected by the Rolex Awards jury, a group of independent experts from around the world.

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