Derreck Kayongo's journey from child refugee to fearless visionary is filled with moments of inspiration that make him one of the most popular — and authentic — speakers on the circuit today. From Africa to Atlanta with nothing but a dream and tenacity, Kayongo beat the odds, earned an education, became a naturalized U.S. citizen, and has served in leadership roles in some of the world's most respected NGOs since 1994. He has worked with the American Friends Service Committee as Program Director for the Southeast Peace Education program; joined Amnesty International as the Director of the Southeast Region; and currently serves as Senior Advocacy Coordinator for the Southeast region with CARE International.

In 2009, Kayongo and his wife Sarah started their own NGO, The Global Soap Project, which focuses on repurposing partially-used soap from hotels into new soap for needy populations, particularly in Africa. To date, The Global Soap Project produces 30,000 bars of soap per week with capacity to produce over a million bars annually and has been able to donate over half a million bars of soap to over 20 countries some of which include Afghanistan, Iraq, Swaziland, Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Haiti, and Malawi. Derreck's business acumen was able to attract big corporations like the Hilton Corp, UPS Corp and the Center for Disease Control onto his board because these businesses saw the value and brilliance that he brings to issues that face the poor around the world.

Kayongo has been recognized as a 2011 CNN HERO; won the Maxx Entrepreneurship award; received the Refugee Services Award; honored by Congressman John Lewis with a Certificate of Congressional Recognition; has been featured in more than 20 news stories and on TV programs such as Fox News and CNN. He is currently writing his autobiography. Derreck is a fantastic speaker on key issues that concern women empowerment and brilliant role in business, Social Entrepreneurship, Successful business practices in the 21st Century et al. His audiences span from Corporations to Universities, no audience is too small for Derreck for his passion goes to everything he puts his hands on. To book Derreck for a speaking engagement please contact Lindsay Samakow at lsamakow@kepplerspeakers.com and for information about Derreck's NGO please visit www.globalsoap.org there you can see his Facebook friends and the work he and the Global Soap Board have been able to do in the past three years to fight global poverty through health and sanitation.