Kayongo exemplifies ‘people helping people’ philosophy

Global Soap Project founder Derreck Kayongo finds meaning in improving others' lives.

February 27, 2017 by Alex McVeigh, CUNA

When he was a boy, Derreck Kayongo’s life was turned upside down when dictator Idi Amin took control of his home country of Uganda.

During the ED (Filene) Talk on Sunday at CUNA’s Governmental Affairs Conference (GAC), Kayongo explained his journey from a refugee from the genocide Amin perpetrated to the founder of the Global Soap Project, a $10 million business active in 90 countries.

The Global Soap Project recycles soap from hotel rooms, turns it into fresh soap, and sends it to people in need in Africa, Latin America, and Asia, populations where people die on a regular basis due to a lack of basic hygiene.

Kayongo described the Global Soap Project in terms the GAC audience understood well.

“It’s people helping people. And that’s the remarkable part about this business, and that’s what you guys are doing, as credit unions,” he said. “You’re people in a business, helping people.”