I am ready to reveal one of the commercial projects in my fundraiser docket.

I am working on building a Catholic shea butter empire in Africa. We are starting in South Sudan. There, one finds the rare “nilotica” variety of the product, which is much more suitable for cosmetic uses than the more popular West African variety, found especially in Ghana.

The company will benefit local farming women and the Diocese of Tombura-Yambio, which comprises all of Western Equatoria State. It’s large. (But the bishop’s car doesn’t really work so reliably; he often rides a bicycle through the bush on the rough dirt roads to visit the villages.)

South Sudan is currently at the bottom of the global list of human development. It lacks roads, clean water, health care, electric grids, and basic governmental accountability. But there is faith (more than half the country is Catholic)… and there is ingenuity and work ethic. People in places like this make great entrepreneurs… If they don’t hustle, they don’t eat.

If “Catholic shea butter” interests you as an investor (at or above the $10,000 level), please contact me. There could be space for you. You’ll be helping to create Catholic-oriented wealth in one of the poorest countries in the world.