By Sue White
Mike Matulick's has a side-hustle as the CEO of Soap Aid which recycles soap.
Name:
Mike Matulick
Main job:
I’m the [regional] managing director of Hunter Amenities. It’s one of the largest hotel amenities companies in the world. Basically, we’re responsible for those tiny soaps and shampoos that you find in your hotel bathroom.
Side-hustle:
I am the founding CEO of Soap Aid, an international not-for-profit that I started in Melbourne. [I'm now the chair and a member of the board]. We collect, sort, clean and reprocess hotel waste soap into fresh, 100 per cent hygienic soap bars. We then distribute them to communities around the world facing critical hygiene challenges. The life-saving power of soap is profound. Through this effort, we have supplied more than 270,000 people globally with more than one million bars of soap.
The timeframe:
I have been a part of the hospitality industry for 19 years now. I have been with Soap Aid since its inception nine years ago.
The reason:
My experience within the industry allowed me to identify the tremendous power to do something great with hotel soaps – it’s a product often only used once and otherwise winds up contributing to landfill. It was an opportunity for me to enact a change I desire in the industry and it’s only continued to grow. We have transformed more than 130 tonnes of soap that would otherwise be contributing to needless, harmful landfill. Instead, it’s going towards saving lives and preventing disease. That alone makes it worth all the time in the world.
The money:
It costs us less than 10 cents to produce a recycled bar of soap which we distribute for free. This is more than half the cost to purchase a virgin soap in these communities, so our model is very cost effective in driving better health outcomes. Additionally, we have invested significant costs to purchase unique equipment capable of efficiently recycling soap in an environmentally friendly process.
Transferable skills:
Running a business and running a charity are two very different things with very different motivations, challenges and KPIs. However, many of the skills I have developed in my corporate life have been very relevant for a not-for-profit. In fact, the lack of resources and funding in Soap Aid mean strategic planning is crucial and cashflow management must be even more precise.
If I was starting from scratch I would:
Begin Soap Aid earlier! It was no coincidence that my Soap Aid journey began the same year I became a father for the first time. When you have a child, your life is no longer about you. It was part of the revelatory process of parenthood that I conceived Soap Aid.
Hardest time:
In my quest to grow Soap Aid through fundraising and awareness, I committed to participating in the 2019 Race Across America in June. I raced on a pushbike from the west coast of America to the east coast. It was 4800 kilometres in seven days. There was a team of three other riders plus a support crew of 10 people. It’s widely considered one of the toughest bike races in the world which made it a great opportunity to reflect on the hard times the communities we send our soap to are facing every day.
Best side-hustle moment:
Visiting the communities and children who are receiving our soap is profound. Seeing firsthand the impact our soap is having on the lives of these people makes all the hard work worthwhile. That’s what it’s all about - saving lives and delivering positive health outcomes so these communities can prosper.
Find me: www.soapaid.org