Rolex has announced it Young Laureates for this year’s Global Awards Programme. Five young visionaries from Africa, India, Europe and the Middle East were announced late last June, at the Royal Society in London, as winners of the 2014 Rolex Awards for Enterprise. This year’s Young Laureates, aged 30 and under, were chosen for their leadership qualities and their ability to harness technology in an original way to improve the well-being of the community and the environment. The Young Laureates achievements have also advanced scientific knowledge.
Introducing the worthy recipients of the 2014 Rolex Awards for Enterprise:
Neeti Kailas
Aged 29, from India, aims to vastly increase screening of newborn babies for hearing loss, through an inexpensive, easy-to-use device, and to set up an associated network of health-care professionals in India who can diagnose or treat deafness.
Arthur Zang
Aged 26, from Cameroon, has invented what is believed to be Africa’s first medical tablet, which will allow health-care workers in rural areas to send the results of cardiac tests to heart specialists via a mobile-phone connection.
Francesco Sauro
Aged 29, from Italy is exploring the vast quartzite caves of South America’s fabled table- top mountains on the border of Venezuela and Brazil, making discoveries of unique worlds that have evolved in isolation over millennia.
Hosam Zowawi
Aged 29, from Saudi Arabia, is developing rapid tests to detect the presence of antibiotic- resistant bacteria, now considered a global threat to human health. He also plans a regional public campaign warning of the dangers of the overuse and misuse of antibiotics.
Olivier Nsengimana
Aged 30, from Rwanda, is promoting breeding programmes and the release of Rwanda’s captive, endangered grey crowned-cranes. The iconic bird, a symbol of wealth and longevity in Rwanda, is a victim of its own beauty, and is often kept as a pet.