Soapan Santun

It all started on a working holiday trip to New Zealand.

Anna Lee and Louis Koh, the co-founders of Soapan Santun, went to New Zealand for a working holiday trip in 2019 and something struck them towards the end of their trip.

They both worked as a recycling sorter for their last job in Christchurch and were shocked by the amount of plastic coming down the sorting belt and the number of plastic bales going out every day.

When Anna was sorting through the recyclables one day, she thought to herself, 'What if everyone uses something that doesn't come in a ridiculous amount of plastic packaging and opts for biodegradable products instead?'

A year after their life abroad, Anna and Louis came home hoping to make small positive changes and impacts on the environment but were still clueless and at a loss at what they could do.

Then, when COVID struck, Anna started picking up a new skill—making handmade soaps. Louis was the very first reason why she started learning how to make soaps because his eczema flare-ups were getting out of hand at the time and Anna was desperate to try anything that could soothe his condition.