Denica Riadini-Flesch’s SukkhaCitta Project Receives Prestigious Rolex Award for Enterprise

Among the 2023 Laureates of the Rolex Awards for Enterprise is Indonesian development economist Denica Riadini-Flesch, whose unique farm-to-closet project – SukkhaCitta – produces clothing that empowers rural craftswomen and provides them with social and environmental benefits, while making consumers think twice about the daily fashion choices they make.

In Singapore last month to receive her 2023 Rolex Award for Enterprise, Denica Riadini-Flesch brims with optimism and enthusiasm as she joins four other 2023 Laureates scattered around the world whose ambitious projects will help to improve lives while protecting the planet for future generations. This coveted recognition will help her to expand one of the world’s first regenerative farm-to-closet fashion supply chains, strengthening women’s empowerment and preserving local Indonesian culture at the same time.

Indonesia is one of the world’s largest clothing manufacturers, but fewer than two percent of its garment and textile workers – the vast majority of whom are women – earn a living wage. When Denica left Indonesia to study as a development economist in the Netherlands, she “felt guilty, knowing it’s not an opportunity most women in Indonesia have”. On returning to her homeland, she did so with a mission: to change the industry in a way that would benefit everyone. She was intent on making a difference – little knowing what an impact her mindset would eventually generate.

The first problem she had to address was how to ensure the women making the clothes received a fair living wage. According to her, “These women, working from home, are the most marginalised segment of the global fashion industry because their labour is outsourced through layers of middlemen.” And so, in 2016, SukkhaCitta – meaning “happiness” – was born; a farm-to-closet social enterprise that sells high-quality, traditionally crafted clothing on its website, as well as at various retailers in about 30 countries worldwide. By connecting them with a global market, Denica is helping women artisans to thrive. The craft schools that she is building provide young women with a place to work and hone their craftsmanship skills; ultimately enabling women perpetuate their indigenous culture.

This model she conceived has been so successful that women working with SukkhaCitta have seen a significant improvement in their lives. Their earnings have increased by 60 percent, a factor that frequently leads to a dramatic shift in the gender roles within their communities. As women increasingly take charge of their household’s finances, the nutrition and education of the village’s children (girls in particular) have improved, laying the foundation for continued sustainable development.

This investment in the future is extremely important to Denica, as SukkhaCitta gives the women they work with access to education in craft and design, business skills, and environmental stewardship. In some craft schools, young mothers can also become apprentices to older, more experienced artisans. Mentorship is key for cultural regeneration, replicating the traditional craft lineage previously passed on from mothers to daughters.

The second problem she was faced with was an environmental one. It is standard practice in the fashion industry to use toxic dyes, and almost all of Indonesia’s cotton is imported, and grown on enormous monoculture farms using harmful chemicals. According to her, “Cotton has been named the dirtiest crop on the planet because of the amount of herbicide needed to grow it. But it doesn’t need to be this way.”

She found her solution in the traditional farming techniques of the very communities she is working with. Denica and her team found an older generation of Indonesian cotton farmers that remember how their grandmothers integrated cotton into the forest ecosystem, alleviating the need for chemicals. Using the existing local wisdom of these smallholder farmers, SukkhaCitta has started growing their own cotton through regenerative farming, planting the cotton alongside 23 other species to maintain biodiversity and restore the health of the soil. They make and use natural dyes from plants grown by their farmers as sustainable colorants for the fabrics.

Denica is proud of these traditional approaches adopted by SukkhaCitta and says: “The best thing is that this is not some fancy new technology. It is proven local wisdom that has been practiced here in Indonesia for generations.”

However, she is not averse to embracing the opportunities presented by technology. Her team is currently developing an app to extend the project to the most remote regions of Indonesia. Founded with only three women, SukkhaCitta now works directly with over 400 craftspeople and smallholder farmers, and to date has impacted over 1,500 lives. She believes that being part of the Rolex Perpetual Planet Initiative through her Rolex Award will help her in her endeavours to triple the number of craft schools, with the aim of reaching 10,000 lives by 2030.

Asked about her motivation to apply for the Rolex Awards for Enterprise, Denica emphasises that she has always intended for SukkhaCitta to be a movement – not just a brand. “So, it’s important for me to bring the story to as wide an audience as possible. Rolex and its Perpetual Planet Initiative can help me do exactly that. Having received this award is so special because these women have been invisible for far too long, and now their story is being heard, it’s being celebrated all around the world. That’s why the Rolex Award is such a special thing for me.

“The Award will allow us to amplify our model by scaling physically across schools, but also digitising our curriculum so we’re able to reach more women across Indonesia. That’s why we are celebrating together, because we know what this opportunity means for so many women who can now feel seen and valued again.”

She explains that her Rolex Award for Enterprise will support three new elements of her project: the purchase of extra land for the construction of a new building for 30 additional artisans, the renovation of a batik school and further refinement of the teaching of batik skills in four villages, and the development of aforementioned app that will digitise regenerative farming knowledge to help the social enterprise reach more women in last mile communities.

Joining Denica on the list of 2023 Rolex Awards for Enterprise Laureates are Peruvian biologist Constantino Aucca Chutas, who will be scaling up his community-centred forest ecosystem restoration and protection programme in the high Andes; Beth Koigi, a young Kenyan social entrepreneur, who will be providing solar-powered condensation technology to 3,000 people in 10 communities in need of clean water resources; Ivorian conservationist Inza Koné, who will be protecting a richly biodiverse forest in Côte d’Ivoire while safeguarding its endangered fauna and reducing poverty in the area; and Liu Shaochuang, the Chinese aerospace scientist who will be studying wild camels’ habitats in view of creating two new conservation reserves to save the last remaining wild herds.

For nearly a century, Rolex has supported pioneering explorers pushing back the boundaries of human endeavour. The company has moved from championing exploration for the sake of discovery to protecting the planet, committing for the long term to support individuals and organisations using science to understand and devise solutions to today’s environmental challenges.

As part of the Perpetual Planet Initiative, the Rolex Awards for Enterprise were set up in 1976 by André J. Heiniger, then CEO of Rolex, to mark the 50th anniversary of the Rolex Oyster, the world’s first waterproof wristwatch. Intended to be a once-only celebration, the Awards drew so much international interest that Rolex transformed them into an ongoing programme that has, in the years since, supported 160 Laureates whose endeavours have made a significant contribution worldwide to improving life and protecting our planet.

Since their foundation, the Rolex Awards have embodied the company’s determination to contribute to the wider world – the ethos that now inspires its Perpetual Planet initiative. According to André, “We initiated the Rolex Awards for Enterprise out of a conviction that we had a responsibility as a company to take an active interest in improving life on our planet and in the desire to foster values we cherish: quality, ingenuity, determination and, above all, a spirit of enterprise.”

The Rolex Awards are unique in several ways. Unlike most other award programmes, they are not designed to recognise past achievements – they are given for new or ongoing projects. Candidates must be aged 18 or over, and there are no academic or professional requirements, nor any restrictions on gender or nationality – anyone, anywhere, can apply for a Rolex Award. Laureates currently represent 51 nationalities and carry out projects in 65 countries, giving the programme a massive global reach.

The 160 women and men selected as Rolex Awards Laureates since 1976 include an extraordinary cohort of pioneers across a wide range of geographical locations and skills. Past Laureates have featured archaeologists, architects, educators, engineers, entrepreneurs, explorers, filmmakers, geologists, medical doctors, microbiologists, mountaineers, physicists, primatologists, sociologists, veterinarians, and wildlife biologists.

The tangible benefits of the Laureates’ projects are even more varied. In those directly related to the environment, 28 million trees have been planted, 52 endangered species and 32 major ecosystems protected (including 57,600 km2 of Amazon rainforest), hundreds of new species have been discovered, 53 challenging expeditions have been completed, and 49 innovative technologies have been developed for a range of applications. Most significantly, millions of people across the globe have benefited from the Laureates’ award-winning projects over the past 48 years.

Featured image: Denica Riadini-Flesch, founder and CEO of SukkhaCitta, talking with Ibu Tun and Ibu Dair in a cotton field near Central Java, Indonesia. Ibu is a term of respect used for elder craftswomen in Indonesia, and SukkhaCitta offers them the support they need to earn a living wage through their traditional crafts (Copyright: Rolex/Sébastien Agnetti)