It’s Soap. It’s Hope. It rhymes. Catchy, huh?

But not as catchy as what’s actually going on behind the scenes. Today we’ve got Salah Boukadoum, founder of Soap Hope, here to talk with us on how we can shop more and save the world from poverty. Awesome. Here’s some of the questions I had for Salah:

How did you get interested in women & poverty?

I learned about problems associated with delivery of financial aid to the poor in developing countries when I was on concert tour in Kenya (I used to be a classical pianist in my first life). I have been interested in the economics of poverty ever since. I believe that the empowerment of women around the world is key to overcoming many of humanity’s global challenges.

Tell us more about Soap Hope’s 100% investment model.

We developed the Good Returns model (investing 100% of profits into sustainable non-profit causes) by ourselves. I love this model because it is something that every business owner can do to make a powerful difference in the world while still creating value for themselves and their families.

What is your “hope” for Soap Hope?

I always tell people to set their sights on the greatest vision for themselves and their community, and then to begin making steps to bring it into reality.  My vision for Soap Hope is to create one billion dollars for anti-poverty efforts – not through Soap Hope alone, but by teaching 1,000 other small business owners to follow our lead.  The numbers work like this: if just fifty small businesses in each of twenty cities in the U.S. follow the Good Returns model, and earn an average profit of $100,000 annually, over a ten year period we will have deployed a billion dollars for women in poverty!  That’s the power of scaling Good Returns across the country.

How do you pick your products?

We wanted to have a company that was Good in every way: all natural healthful products, with minimal environmental impacts, and focused on women customers since the mission is focused on empowering women worldwide. We widen our product offering every month.  Now we sell all-natural soap, hair care, body face, facial care, and most recently all-natural household cleaning products.  Soon you will see all-natural cosmetics and all-natural candles on our site (http://soaphope.com) as well.

Can you give us some specifics about what happens with the profit from Soap Hope?

It only takes $50 to help a woman in a small village start her own business, begin the process of learning to read, and receive basic healthcare services.  With $1,000 you can launch a core team of 20 women that begins the transformation of an entire community.  It’s amazing how little money it takes to make a difference – but there are also a billion people living on less than one dollar a day, so the need is great.

Is Soap Hope faith-based?

Soap Hope is a secular business founded on principles of respect for all people and the desire to help those in need.  We work with any organization that has the same core values, whether the organization is faith based or not.  We teach respect for all people to everyone we work with, inside the organization and outside.

Pulling something off like this takes serious courage and stamina. Where
did you learn to be so bold?

I’ve always been driven to solve problems, and I always encourage those around me to solve the biggest problem they can imagine tackling. If everyone would embrace a sense of urgency to help others, our world would quickly be transformed.

What’s something you’d like to do? Be? See?

I’d like to play the Rachmaninoff 3rd piano concerto with an orchestra on a Saturday afternoon for friends.  I’d like to be the keynote speaker at a Good Returns annual conference and announce the 1,000th member business.  I’d like to see the headline in the New York Times announcing our milestone of deploying “One Billion Dollars Toward the End of Poverty.”

So, tell us your life message in one sentence. (easy, right?) And what’s one thing you’d like us all to know about Soap Hope?
My message is to put aside doubts, set your sights on the biggest vision you can imagine for yourself and your world, and take the first step of action toward that vision right now – every moment.

I’d like readers to understand how important their actions are to the success of Soap Hope and the Good Returns model: Soap Hope works exactly when customers make it work by choosing our products and telling others about us.

Most of our customers find us through word of mouth, so we succeed when people talk about us.  If you love the idea of helping women in poverty just by shopping at the right places, tell people about Soap Hope whenever you have the opportunity – e-mail friends, post on your Facebook, tweet about us often, tell friends in the media, give Hope Pourri as a gift to friends and customers:

Spread the Hope. The Hope in Soap Hope is the end of poverty.

Thanks Salah for stopping by! And I have ordered several things already and LOVE them. My personal favorite: the Pangea sweet lavender & thyme facial cream. It’s awesome and smells divine.