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  • Eco-Soap Bank's Siem Reap team recycling soap. Eco-Soap Bank operates 4 branches in Cambodian cities.
    Marcia Soto Pirani | 06 January 2018 | USA

    CNN Hero Honored for His Impact to Children in Cambodia

    Eco-Soap Bank's Siem Reap team recycling soap. Eco-Soap Bank operates 4 branches in Cambodian cities. Sharon Radisch
  • The Eco-Soap Bank’s Siem Reap team packages soap before distribution
    Marcia Soto Pirani | 06 January 2018 | USA

    CNN Hero Honored for His Impact to Children in Cambodia

    The Eco-Soap Bank’s Siem Reap team packages soap before distribution. Sharon Radisch
  • Students at Ponheary Ly Foundation's school wash their hands upon arriving in school.
    Marcia Soto Pirani | 06 January 2018 | USA

    CNN Hero Honored for His Impact to Children in Cambodia

    Students at Ponheary Ly Foundation's school wash their hands upon arriving in school. Sharon Radisch
  • Students in Kralanh District, Cambodia learn to wash hands as instructed by their teachers
    Marcia Soto Pirani | 06 January 2018 | USA

    CNN Hero Honored for His Impact to Children in Cambodia

    Students in Kralanh District, Cambodia learn to wash hands as instructed by their teachers Sharon Radisch
  • Eco Soap Bank’ Siem Reap team, with founder, Samir Lakhani.
    Marcia Soto Pirani | 06 January 2018 | USA

    CNN Hero Honored for His Impact to Children in Cambodia

    Eco Soap Bank’ Siem Reap team, with founder, Samir Lakhani. Sharon Radisch
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CNN Heroes honors “people who have inspired us through their brave actions, heartfelt deeds, and powerful impact on the world.”  The network receives thousands of submissions each year of individuals doing extraordinary things, from those nominated, only a few are chosen. On May 5, 2017, the network honored twenty five-year-old Samir Lakhani as a CNN Hero.  Samir is the founder of Eco-Soap Bank, a nonprofit organization that has helped save Cambodian children and improve their quality of life while boosting the local economy. 

Samir was raised in Philadelphia and moved to Florida when his parents retired in 2010. Although he still calls Florida home, he spends his time between Florida and Pittsburgh where Eco-Soap is headquartered. He majored in environmental studies, and as a Junior at the University of Pittsburgh, traveled to Cambodia to complete an internship. His intent was  to study climate change as he knew it could have catastrophic effects in rural parts of the world. 

While in rural Cambodia, Samir saw a mother bathing her newborn baby in a basin filled with laundry powder and water— soap is a luxury most Cambodians cannot afford. This image affected Samir deeply. He learned that children living in rural areas are vulnerable to disease simply because they are unable to wash their hands. One in five deaths of Cambodian children younger than five are caused by poor hygiene practices.

While staying at a hotel, Samir noticed that they threw out their partly used bars of soap. He saw this as an opportunity to improve the community’s hygiene problems and prevent disease.  With only two weeks left in Cambodia, he devised an initiative to recycle and distribute the leftover soap.  With only a desire to make a difference, Samir drove his bicycle to as many hotels as he could, and single-handedly convinced them to donate their used soap. 

Upon his return to the United States, while finishing his last year of college, Samir founded Eco-Soap Bank, and began fundraising, talking to mentors, making presentations to Rotary Clubs and other organizations. He turned to crowdfunding and took advantage of the offers of many individuals who also offered to donate their skills to the venture.  and learning everything he could about running a nonprofit.

Climate change would have to wait. Samir was able to hire two Cambodian women to pick up and recycle the soap from 10 hotels that had agreed to participate in his initiative. Within a short time, a Cambodian city learned what Samir was doing and obtained 200 hotels willing to donate their soap. 

Currently, Eco-Soap Bank works with 400 hotels, and has branches in four different Cambodian cities.  Their goal is to hire 45 women.  Most of these women are widowed, underemployed and uneducated.  Eco-Soap not only provides them with the ability to earn a living to support their families but also arranges skill-building classes such as English  and computer classes. Samir states that he applies some for-profit principles to effectively, and sustainably run his non-profit. 

Eco-Soap Bank’s entire management team works on a voluntary basis, yet it is the largest soap supplier in Southeast Asia.  The 35 women staff in Cambodia all earn full-time wages. The organization is now expanding to Nepal and Rwanda. Samir explained that the team members do not currently pay themselves a salary as one salary could hire 30-40 employees in Cambodia; so they would rather impact the beneficiaries than pay themselves, And in that way, almost 100 percent of all donations go directly to Cambodia.

When asked what inspired him, Samir stated that he inherits his ethics of generosity and altruism from his parents.  “They are the biggest lights of my life” he proudly proclaims.

To learn more about Eco Soap bank, please visit
www.ecosoapbank.org
https://www.crowdrise.com/samir-lakhani-eco-soap-bank