Make Honey South Sudan's 1st Export

Help make 100% natural African honey South Sudan's first export to the USA. 

We have a team of American entrepreneurs and South Sudanese beekeepers, an amazing product, an ethical buyer in Texas, and a dream.

We're not letting anything - not even war - get in the way.

The Goal: No one has ever formally exported anything from South Sudan to the USA, but we've found an American buyer who loves South Sudanese honey, wants to carry it in grocery stores, and shares our passion for using business as a tool for social good.

We're raising $5,000 so we can harvest, strain and barrel the honey in South Sudan.

Then we can set up the shipment with the American buyer, and make history. South Sudan's first export to the USA will be from a farming cooperative.

The Story: Since I first came to South Sudan in 2009 I've wanted to help South Sudanese do three things: start their own businesses, grow more food, and protect their environment.

We struggle with those things even here in my native Texas. So you can imagine what it's like for entrepreneurs and farmers in the world's newest country, coming out of more than 50 years of civil war.

Then in December 2012 I met a group of beekeepers with the most amazing wild honey I've ever tasted. I brought samples to the USA and I heard the same response, from San Francisco to Seattle to New York: "Where did you get this, and how do we get more?" I knew we had our flagship product. 

picture: beekeepers with handmade beehive

The Honey: South Sudanese honey is unbelievably good. Maybe that's because there are so many flowers here, scientists haven't even identified them all. The farmers don't use pesticides or fertilizers, so the honey is totally free of synthetic chemicals or heavy metals (we had it tested just to make sure). Maybe that's why South Sudan has incredibly healthy bees - unlike the rest of the world.

The Challenge: This is an independent enterprise with no government or corporate affiliation. We're doing this citizen-to-citizen, business-to-business, across more than 8,000 miles. 

picture: beekeepers building wooden beehive

We build our own beehives and source as much locally as possible. But anything not made of wood has to be imported from Uganda, like food-grade buckets and barrels for straining and storing honey.

Since we are harvesting this amazing honey from remote rural areas, we may even have to build our own loading ramp.

All of this is happening in a country with great difficulties. There's a civil war, the roads are rough, and we've had partners die (including my father).

But we're not afraid. We just want to see this thing through.

Tinate! ("Thank you!" in the Kuku language of my beekeeper friends)

- Chris Douglas (with our Rhino Bee)