Head of Philanthropy, Rolex, Rebecca Irvin’s job requires her to keep an eye out for people who are coming up with interesting innovations and help them fulfill their goals. At the helm of the Rolex Laureates for Enterprise, she is busy searching for young individuals who are innovative, starting out, and need an impetus. After the search and journey is over, she goes onto create a self-sustaining microcosm of entrepreneurs and enterprise…
The tall, attractive, straight talker is as driven as she is inspired. Straddling many careers, she was a Reuters journalist, worked for the Red Cross before cupid struck! The American born woman got married to her husband, Matthias Stiefel, a Swiss who is the founder and vice-chairman of Interpeace, and made Geneva her home, and now she creates a network of minds that explores and ideates to form the future of progress.
“I speak Portuguese, decent German, French, English — most Indians know so many languages. We also have a house in Portugal. I started out in languages and political science, and worked as a journalist for the first 10 years, as a general reporter. In ICRC, I was on the communication side. My connection to Switzerland is that my husband is Swiss. As I have always liked telling stories and positive news, this was the perfect job,” says Rebecca, who is also chairman at A Rocha International, an environmental organisation.
Giving the nascent young world of innovation a push is her bread and butter. Yet, she credits her team who, “are better at evaluating projects and impact.”
She reveals, “Rolex was looking for somebody to run the Rolex Awards for Enterprise in the early 90s and I applied. I am not involved in the commercial side but watching making in Switzerland is a very interesting industry — historically, culturally and sociologically. It is a special company that allows such innovation.”
The mother of two, who is an associate director at the Rolex Institute feels it’s an immense responsibility, “I think you have to constantly evaluate what you are doing. We have questioned ourselves about the programme set up in the 70s — what it should be doing? That is why we introduced the Young Laureates Programme and it is as relevant today, almost a bit like the Rolex watches. They have been copied by many, but does that mean you stop doing it or that you are the original and you keep doing what you do best. We realise that young people need support and we follow them closely — our last year’s Laureates Karina Atkinson (a Scottish scientist) and Arun Krishnamurthy worked together in India,” she explains.
Rebecca is behind the hugely successfull and one-of-a-kind mentor and protégé programme too. “We set up the mentor and protege programme 10 years ago. I think traditionally, it was the way the arts were learnt, and it had kind of disappeared from the West. I felt a need for a separate programme as you can’t fund artistes the way you fund explorers and scientists. It took about two years in research. Instead of having master classes and educational activities, we give young people a mentor and it’s been a roaring success. We have some fantastic people who have agreed to do it like Martin Scorsese, Toni Morrison, Michael Ondaatje, Anish Kapoor etc. — The mentors were intrigued, and felt they got more from it than the protégés,” she adds.
How are these programmes different? “We have been around for almost 40 years, 2016 will be our 40th anniversary. I think that it is rather unusual that a company in Europe was talking about these initiatives in the 70s. This programme is set up within the company and run by us. A lot of CSR sees companies make donations, it’s very rare that it is an operating programme within a company. The seriousness, prestige and track record are what make us different. I am fascinated by the whole issue of the CSR legislation in India and happy about it. It’s hard to do things right, it’s not just a question of how much money you give, it’s also that you give the right people the right amount of support at the right time. It’s very difficult to give away money well, she says.”
About the future, she laughs, “Everybody says — you have the best job in the company as you get to meet all these people and it true — it’s very stimulating and very very satisfying.” Rebecca loves playing the piano and has a degree from the Popular Music Conservatory in Geneva. About her children, she says, Adrian and Sarah have become pretty entrepreneurial - in communication and science. About her husband, she says after much prodding, “My husband is a political scientist. He is involved in peace building. He founded an organisation called Interpeace which is helping countries rebuild after war.”
