This year, Catherine Bolt walked away from a successful bridal & retail business to begin a quest of building an Indonesian orphanage and wildlife sanctuary.

Today, Catherine’s websites, Elements at Eumundi and her personal website fund and organise the Indonesian project.

Catherine (Cate) lives on a mountain in Eumundi, Queensland with husband Rick and nine children. She picked the name Eumundi out on a travel map, long before she ever visited there.  But she knew it was perfect for her family as soon as she visited there during 2008.  in January of 2009, Cate’s family moved from Victoria to Eumundi. They soon set about creating an organic, sustainable-living lifestyle.

Self-described as a writer, conservationist, photographer, humanitarian and mother of nine– Cate doesn’t do things by halves.  Past professions have included  journalist and magazine editor, small business owner,  night club bouncer, security guard and prison officer–  some of them at the same time!

Cate also built up a very successful bridal and specialist retail business, both bricks-and-mortar and online. During this time, she organised some of the largest weddings around Australia.

A seed planted

In 2009, a former employee, Damo, travelled to Cambodia and Vietnam, visiting orphanages and under-privileged communities there.  A seed was planted in Cate’s heart and mind.  

After supporting a friend through losing a child to coronary heart disease, Cate felt herself becoming increasingly frustrated with some of the ‘bridezillas’ she came across in her wedding business. Trivial concerns paled in comparison to those who were out there hurting.   Cate made the decision to have her friend and former employee, Carol, take over the business, and the Indonesian project was born.

Indonesia today has spiralling rates of HIV/AIDS, women and children are trafficked, tens of millions lack access to sanitation and clean water, street children are exploited and left to fend for themselves.

 3 million children work– and many work in dangerous jobs. And Indonesians are still recovering from the 2004 tsunami, as well as the  earthquakes and smaller tsunamis following in the years after 2004. (Source: At a glance: Indonesia  unicef.org)

Plans for a village, outreach programme and wildlife refuge

Together, Cate and husband Rick,plan to have a solar-powered village of 18 houses built on the island of Sumatra, each housing eight children and a house mother. The project will include an outreach programme, with a school and daily meal for local children.  There are 500,000 children living in crowded orphanges in Indonesia, most having parents who cannot afford to feed them.

A wildlife refuge is also planned, to aid in conserving at-risk wildlife such as the Sumatran tiger and orangutan.

Currently, Cate’s sustainable-living business has 50% of its profits funding the Indonesian project. Cate is also flat-out gathering material from anyone who’ll send some her way, and making goods to sell at market. 100% of the profits from these goods is funding the project. She’s also looking for lawyers and anyone who can help with legalities and practicalities of setting up the charity. Everyone can help Cate’s project in some way.

Visions of the future

You might call such huge projects a crazy dream. Certainly, Cate has had her share of detractors. It’s a funny thing about irrational vision—in the end it can achieve what rational thought cannot. Irrational vision is disruptive—it forces us to look at something that is outside of the way things are ‘normally done’.

Irrational thought can also be applied to business. Neuroscientists and the business world are discovering the power of irrational thinking processes. An idea that is irrational to one person may be extremely rational to the next person, and in a generation or so, that same idea may appear logical to most people. This article from the Harvard Business School quotes Yaron Kaufman: “Managers must be rational when it comes to planning, financing, operating and measuring business performance…. Irrational thinking is needed when you think about the question, ‘What’s next?‘ ”

‘What’s next?’ is a projection into the unknown.  It’s entrepreneurial.  Social entrepreneurs all over the world apply business-thinking that is outside the square, with forward-vision. Social entrepreneurs aim to provide solutions that aid the underprivileged of this world.

With new solutions, there’s a chance of either failure or gain. But if no one ever takes an excursion into the future, we’ll all stay stuck in the present.

 And we desperately need visions that improve our world and make it a better and fairer place for all.