Gwinnett man’s used hotel soap leads to next global gig

You never know where an idea will lead you. Just ask Derreck Kayongo, who now lives in the suburbs of metro Atlanta and was recently named CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

As a young grad student visiting the U.S. years ago, Kayongo was shocked to learn the hotel where he was staying threw away guests’ little bars of used soap. A former refugee from Uganda, he saw even the used soap as a potentially life-saving treasure.

Years later, Kayongo launched a nonprofit that has gathered, sanitized and shipped millions of bars of soap to poor countries.

Check out how he made the leap to now lead an Atlanta center with global ambitions, in the latest Unofficial Business column on myAJC.com.

About the Author

Philanthropy helped shape Atlanta. Here’s how that legacy endures.

Philanthropy helped shape Atlanta. And foundation-giving has had huge ripple effects not only in the metro area, but far beyond Georgia.

Cox, international nonprofits team to save ‘most beautiful place on Earth’

The land sale protects an ecological gem often described as South America’s Yosemite.

Norfolk Southern sale to Union Pacific to come with heavy Atlanta job losses

The companies laid out on Friday their plans to gut the Atlanta headquarters by more than half through job cuts and relocations to the new headquarters in Omaha.

The Latest