IMPACT HERO 2022
Samir Lakhani
Founder of Eco-Soap Bank
Cambodia, Nepal, etc. 
In a rural Cambodian village, Samir was shocked to see a mother bathe her baby with laundry detergent.
The world disposes of up to 250 million pieces of soap every year. Yet in developing countries like Cambodia, a shortage of basic hygiene products, like bar soap, is the primary cause of infant mortality rates due to preventable diseases like diarrhea.
Learning of this issue, Samir founded Eco-Soap Bank to save lives by enhancing hygiene, protecting the environment from soap waste pollution, and improving the local economy.
The Story Behind
Saving lives with recycled soap
Learning from his parents
From an early age, Samir grew up hearing stories of his parents’ hardships to seek refuge in the U.S., after losing everything they had when they were driven out of Africa in 1972. While Samir enjoyed a good life in the U.S., he knew that he wanted to travel and help developing countries one day. Studying Environmental Studies at the University of Pittsburgh, he found the opportunity to participate in development projects in Cambodia.
A Life-Changing Experience in Cambodia
In 2014, Samir was working on a community service mission in a rural Cambodian village when he came across a shocking sight: a mother bathing her baby in laundry detergent. “Soap is too expensive,” the mother said to Samir.
He later returned to his hotel, still stunned by the experience. As he washed his hands, it dawned on him that the bar of soap he was using would soon be replaced after only a few uses.
Siem Reap, where Samir was staying at the time, is famously known as an international tourism hotspot. The many hotels and guesthouses would dispose of large amounts of soap, polluting local ecosystems and simply becoming an afterthought.
Yet for the people living in the village not so far from the city, soap is an expensive and unaffordable luxury.
Taking note of these issues, Samir was motivated to help improve people’s health while protecting the environment. With that, Eco-Soap Bank was born inside a hotel bathroom in Siem Reap, Cambodia
Overcoming the COVID Pandemic: Eco-Soap Bank’s New Challenge
Samir wasted no time in launching Eco-Soap Bank. Though it was a challenge at first, his non-profit organization grew steadily with more than 1,200 hotels supplying leftover soap to Eco-Soap Bank by 2019.
However, in 2020 the pandemic hit the tourism industry hard, and the hotels were no longer able to supply leftover soap. Meanwhile, COVID spiked the demand for soap. Samir and his team had to quickly find a new source of supply as he could no longer solely rely on hotels.
In solving this issue, Eco-Soap Bank collaborated with soap factories that would dispose of large quantities of unused soap, and collect them free of charge, or for a low fee. A win-win solution that garnered great interest from other factories.
Having grown rapidly to multiple production sites in countries across Asia and Africa, the supply of leftover soap and demand for recycled soap from international NGOs was quickly catching up to Eco-Soap Bank’s production capacity. Despite that, Samir stays committed to taking on new challenges to ensure more soap reaches more people.
The Mission
Improving health, reducing waste, and empowering women at the same time!
By collecting and recycling leftoversoap, Eco-Soap Bank aims to accomplish these three objectives:
１．Contribute a highly cost-effective hygiene product to improve health.
２．Significantly reduce the waste generated by industry.
３．Provide livelihoods and free education to disadvantaged women with no other reliable source of income.
Currently, recycled soap is produced and distributed at five locations in Asia and Africa, with leftover soap being sourced from soap factories in the U.S.
Eco-Soap Bank employs local disadvantaged women, from each region, providing a stable source of income by becoming soapmakers. More than that, these women play an important role as “Hygiene Ambassadors” in promoting good hygiene habits to their families and communities.
The end product, recycled soap, is distributed by UN agencies and international NGOs to schools, medical facilities, and several areas that lack proper sanitation or hygiene supplies. These program also provide education on proper hygiene practices.
Since its inception in 2014, Eco-Soap Bank has
– Employed 154 women
– Recycled more than 2.26 million ton-kilograms of soap
– Nearly 26.5 million pieces of soap
– Reached more than 6.4 million people in Asia and Africa. (As of March 2022)
At A Glance
IMPACT HERO 2022
Areas of Activity
Cambodia、Nepal
Organization
Eco-Soap Bank
Areas of Activity
Waste reduction, health and hygiene, women empowerment
Waste reduction, health and hygiene, women empowerment
Support start date
January 1, 2022
Support duration
3 years
The Mission
Improving health, reducing waste, and empowering women at the same time!
By collecting and recycling leftoversoap, Eco-Soap Bank aims to accomplish these three objectives:
１．Contribute a highly cost-effective hygiene product to improve health.
２．Significantly reduce the waste generated by industry.
３．Provide livelihoods and free education to disadvantaged women with no other reliable source of income.
Currently, recycled soap is produced and distributed at five locations in Asia and Africa, with leftover soap being sourced from soap factories in the U.S.
EcoSoap Bank employs local disadvantaged women, from each region, providing a stable source of income by becoming soapmakers. More than that, these women play an important role as “Hygiene Ambassadors” in promoting good hygiene habits to their families and communities.
The end product, recycled soap, is distributed by UN agencies and international NGOs to schools, medical facilities, and several areas that lack proper sanitation or hygiene supplies. These program also provide education on proper hygiene practices.
Since its inception in 2014, Eco-Soap Bank has
– Employed 154 women
– Recycled more than 2.26 million ton-kilograms of soap
– Nearly 26.5 million pieces of soap
– Reached more than 6.4 million people in Asia and Africa. (As of March 2022)
At A Glance
IMPACT HERO 2022
Areas of Activity
Cambodia、Nepal
Organization
Eco-Soap Bank
Areas of Activity
Waste reduction, health and hygiene, women empowerment
Waste reduction, health and hygiene, women empowerment
Support start date
January 1, 2022
Support duration
3 years
The Issues
Children are losing lives due to poor hygiene
Many children in the world still contract and die from preventable diseases due to poor sanitation. Diarrhea affects a staggering 1.7 billion children worldwide each year — making it the second leading cause of death among children under the age of five — with 525,000 under-five children dying from diarrhea each year.
Handwashing with soap and water, as well as access to clean drinking water, remains to be the simplest and most effective way to prevent diarrheal diseases. To protect health and life, it is important to use soap and proper hand-washing habits at home and school.
*source: https://www.who.int/en/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/diarrhoeal-disease
The reality is, “washing hands with soap” is not a norm
Handwashing with soap is the cheapest and most effective way to prevent infectious diseases, yet we often take it for granted.
For the poverty-stricken people in developing countries, including Cambodia, soap is a product that is beyond their reach.
Approximately 3 billion people or 40% of the world’s population have limited or no facilities at home to wash their hands with soap and water.
43% of the world’s schools lack facilities for handwashing with soap and water. This means, that 800 million children who attend them are affected.
*source: UNICEF, WHO（2019）” Progression household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene 2000-2017: and hygiene I 2000-2017 Special focus on inequalities”
Large environmental footprint on discarded soap
Ironically, there doesn’t seem to be a shortage of soap. 250,000 tons of soap or about 250 million pieces of solid soap are disposed of directly from manufacturing plants every year.
The lifespan of these soap hasn’t even started, and it is already disposed of due to losses in the production process.
Women in developing countries lack the opportunities to earn a stable income
Less than half of the women in the world have the opportunity to earn a stable become. This is even more difficult in rural areas of developing countries.
Access to education and employment opportunities for women is imperative to escape from economically vulnerable situations.
The Vision
Samir has decided to dedicate his life to tackling the world’s sanitation problems. Today, Eco-Soap Bank has expanded its operations to three countries: Cambodia, Nepal, and Africa. In order to deliver more soap to as many people as possible, he plans to strengthen its flagship production line in Cambodia and establish it as the model for future bases to come.
Earth Company’s Support
Starting off our support, Samir and four team members from Eco-Soap Bank held a meeting to confirm an overview of their business approach, future plans, and potential operational challenges. As a result, we agreed on the following main support plan for the next three years.
Support Plan for Samir:
1. Funding of US$60,000 for the purchase of three soap-making machines at the Cambodian factory by the second quarter of 2022, in order to supply soap for 425,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This is to support the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees program.
2. Build partnerships with companies that have soap factories in Asia and with aid organizations to supply soap.
3. Review financial strategies and provide marketing support to expand the business.
Earth Company’s Support
Starting off our support, Samir and four team members from EcoSoap Bank held a meeting to confirm an overview of their business approach, future plans and perceived operational challenges. As a result, we agreed on the following plan as the main support to focus on for the next three years.
Support Plan for Samir:
1. procurement of US$60,000 for the purchase of three soap-making machines at the Cambodian factory by the second quarter of 2022 to supply soap for 425,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh under the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees program.
2. build partnerships with companies that have soap factories in Asia and with aid organizations to supply soap.
3. review financial strategies and provide marketing support to expand the business.