History

The Global Soap Project began with Derreck and Sarah Kayongo, humanitarians and social entrepreneurs, who together, are fulfilling a dream to help families in developing nations improve their health and build better futures for their children and their countries.

From Africa to Atlanta with nothing but a dream and tenacity, Derreck Kayongo beat the odds, earned an education, and has served in leadership roles in some of the world’s most respected NGOs since 1994. In 2009, he met Vicki Gordon, a veteran hospitality executive, and shared his idea – what if we took the discarded soap from your hotels and turned it into new bars? Derreck recalled his time in the refugee camp – where families were vulnerable to disease simply because they had no soap or clean water to wash with. Vicki, who became one of the founding board members of the Global Soap Project, started making calls and assembling a team to support Derreck and his mission.

Meanwhile, Derreck and his wife Sarah were anxious to get started. They began to enroll local Atlanta hotels and spent their weekends collecting soap and experimenting with various soap making techniques in their basement. Sarah brings her own wealth of expertise to the Global Soap Project. With an MBA in Economic Development from Eastern University in Philadelphia, Sarah’s focus has always been on the empowerment of women and girls. Her perspective has guided the mission of the organization, with the understanding that it is often the women and girls in the populations served by the GSP who are responsible for cooking, taking care of the little ones, fetching water and attending births. These are the people who need soap the most.

Between them, Derreck and Sarah have worked with some of the world’s leading NGOs including World Vision, CARE International, Amnesty International, the American Friends Service Committee. Balancing out their expertise in non-profit management and humanitarian aid, a board of directors was assembled based on expertise, ranging from corporate social responsibility, media relations and marketing, finance and law. Founding board members include Vicki Gordon, Quinn Hudson, Dr. Marie-José LaBaye, John Parkerson and Beth Penland.

Two years later, the Global Soap Project has expanded operations from Derreck’s basement to a warehouse in Norcross, Georgia with the capacity to produce thousands of bars of soap a day. It seems fitting that a recent shipment of 10,000 bars will soon arrive in the world’s newest nation, South Sudan. Derreck was recently named a Top 10 Finalist for the 2011 CNN Hero Award, and the organization he and Sarah founded continues to grow, with more hotels and more soap for the people who need it most.