Indian American Fighting Covid-19 on the Frontlines by Giving Lifesaving Soap into More Hands

By Bidisha Roy

NEW YORK (TIP): All of a sudden people have woken up to a new reality when everyone is talking about handwashing with soap to keep coronavirus away.

But in 2014, a young Indian American, then college student, Samir Lakhani noted a need for basics like soap while volunteering in rural Cambodia where a bar of soap is a luxury for poor that they cannot afford. While still attending the University of Pittsburgh, Lakhani started the Eco-Soap Bank. The nonprofit recycles discarded bars of soap from hotels in Cambodia and distributes it to people in need.

Now at the time of COVID-19, Samir is fighting the pandemic on the Frontlines. “In the last two and half months we have provided over 3 hundred and seventy- five thousand bars of soaps to the affected countries”, he told in an interview with CNN.

Last month ESB gave out over 6,500 bars of soap to 80 organizations and schools in Siem Reap. “The current public health emergency around the world makes the need for hygiene standards stronger than ever, so we are working harder to get lifesaving soap into more hands. Every year, we provide soap and hygiene education to over a million people to prevent diseases like pneumonia, cholera, Ebola, and now, Covid-19. Sometimes, the simplest acts make the biggest impact. This is the moment to raise awareness and save lives,” he was quoted by The Phnom Penh Post.

Samir received a CNN Heroes Award for Eco-Soap Bank in 2017 and a Unilever Young Entrepreneurs award in 2018. Eco-Soap Bank is a humanitarian and environmental non-profit organization working to save, sanitize, and supply recycled hotel soap for the developing world. Our work has three objectives:

Contribute a highly cost-effective hygiene product to improve health

Significantly reduce the waste generated by the hotel industry.

Provide livelihoods and free education to disadvantaged women with no other reliable source of income

Samir Lakhani is a social entrepreneur dedicated to restoring health and dignity to developing countries. Before founding Eco-Soap Bank in 2014, Samir was deeply involved in aquaculture and nutrition projects in northern Cambodian villages. He has also developed solar lighting solution projects in Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Nepal. Through his six years of nonprofit work in the areas of nutrition, water accessibility, and sanitation/hygiene, he has witnessed firsthand how delivering key products like soap transform the health and well-being of impoverished communities.

Samir Lakhani noted a need for basics like soap while volunteering in rural Cambodia. Then a college student, he started a nonprofit to repurpose discarded soap from hotels.

Samir is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and currently lives in Pittsburgh, PA.