Soap Hope Integrates Into Plano Nonprofit My Possibilities' Initiative

Dallas-based social impact e-retailer Soap Hope will be integrated into My Possibilities’ MPact Initiative, which was created last year to show the value of inclusive employment of people both with and without disabilities.

Soap Hope was founded in 2009 by social entrepreneur Salah Boukadoum to sell all-natural body care products online and invest 100 percent of its profits toward anti-poverty efforts for women.

Now that the Soap Hope has merged with My Possibilities, which provides vocational education for adults with intellectual or developmental disabilities (IDD) in DFW, it will support My Possibilities’ mission to train, employ, and support people with IDD.

Social Entrepreneur Salah Boukadoum [Photo: Rebeca Posadas-Nava]

Soap Hope is expected to work as a curriculum, help fund My Possibilities’ work, and employ HIPsters—participants in My Possibilities’ programs known as Hugely Important People. HIPsters will have job roles throughout the organization including warehouse, shipping, and assembly. One hundred percent of Soap Hope’s profits will be invested in organizations supporting children and adults with disabilities, according to its website.

“Bringing Soap Hope into MPact is a very exciting development for My Possibilities,” Michael Thomas, executive director of My Possibilities, said in a statement. “Our HIPsters are gaining firsthand work experience, proving that inclusive employment for people with disabilities works. We’re also demonstrating how a business can focus on its impact on the world as much as it does its profits.”

Beyond vocational education, MPact’s programs encourage its HIPsters to express their interests in the arts, fitness, leadership, and more, Thomas says.

The merger comes after a year of planning and is part of a planned series of social enterprises organized under the MPact Initiative, according to a statement. MPact was launched in 2019 as a Texas Public Benefit Corporation. The initiative is expected to be “a key driver of sustainability” for the nonprofit by creating revenue to enable My Possibilities to support even more people.

“MPact has become a powerful bridge between educational programming and a workforce that increasingly seeks to employ individuals with disabilities,” Thomas said.

In 2018, My Possibilities merged with LaunchAbility, a job-placement service for underserved and overlooked adults with cognitive disabilities.

Quincy Preston contributed to this report.