Eco-Soap Bank

Eco-Soap Bank is a non-profit founded by Samir Lakhani that employs economically-disadvantaged women to recycle leftover soap from factories. This recycled soap is then distributed to children and refugees, to whom Eco-Soap Bank also provides hygiene education. Eco-Soap Bank leverages waste materials and creates new bars of soap to address the critical need for hygiene in the fight against preventable disease.

Samir utilised the $50,000 funding available through Lead2030 to purchase five recycling machines that went to each of Eco-Soap Bank’s five soap factories across the world. The organisation employs 160 women and builds economic infrastructure that empowers local communities. The $50,000 Eco-Soap Bank received through Lead2030 has resulted in a threefold increase in its recycling capacity output. The organisation reached 1.6 million people, mostly children, through its soap and hygiene education in 2022 alone, while Eco-Soap Bank’s total reach since its founding stands at 8 million people. The primary recipients in 2022 were Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh and Ukrainian refugees in Poland, and more recently, the organisation has worked to support earthquake survivors in Syria and Turkey.

Eco-Soap Bank typically distributes its soap through schools accompanied by hygiene education provided by its partner organisations. In refugee settings, the soap is distributed through Eco-Soap Bank’s INGO partners to reach the most vulnerable people. In addition to the material benefits of the programme, Lead2030 provided Samir with the opportunity to familiarise himself with the vocabulary and requirements of partnering with large corporates, and how to frame value propositions to create sustainable partnerships.

“Our partnership and Lead2030 award with Reckitt has been the most important, defining, punctuating moment of our organisational history. This award has legitimised our organisation. Having $50,000 to spend towards purchasing equipment is completely out of reach for most small charities, and that's what we did.“

• 10.5 million bars of soap recycled and redistributed across the globe in 2022