In Partnership With Rolex
Meet three of the five Rolex Awards For Enterprise laureates, whose inspiring projects will improve life on Planet Earth as part of the watchmaker's Perpetual Planet campaign.
Rolex, a firm supporter of explorers and individuals to discover more about planet Earth and to find ways to preserve the natural world, has launched the Perpetual Planet campaign this year to further its commitment to maintaining the well-being of the earth.
One of the three key pillars of the campaign is the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, an awards to foster entrepreneurship, advance human knowledge and protect our cultural heritage and the environment. (The other two are marine conservationist Sylvia Earle's Mission Blue initiative and Rolex's deepened partnership with the National Geographic Society.)
After few rounds of presentations and selection by an independent jury, five laureates were unveiled in a ceremony in Washington in June. Here, three of the laureates—Brazilian fisheries biologist João Campos-Silva, Ugandan IT specialist Brian Gitta, Canadian entrepreneur and molecular biologist Miranda Wang—reveal more about their projects and their ambitions to solving earth's key challenges.
Also read: Inspiring projects by Rolex Awards For Enterprise laureates, Krithi Karanth and Grégoire Courtine
Brian Gitta, 26
Malaria is a life-threatening disease prevalent worldwide. The key to treating it is early detection, but many, especially children, die from it because accurate test results take time to process, which leads to a delay in treatment delivery. The Ugandan technologist, who is the co-founder and chief executive of software company ThinkIT, is working on a novel, low-cost, portable device that uses light and magnets to give a reliable reading without drawing any blood. The Matiscope, as it is called, is currently in phase two clinical trials with some 300 patients testing its reliability.