Shubham Issar is an industrial designer and the co-founder of SoaPen, a business that promotes hand-washing and overall hygiene with a pen that allows kids to draw on their hands using soap.

THE CREATION OF SOAPEN

Originally from New Delhi, India, Shubham met SoaPen’s other co-founder, Amanat Anand, at the Parsons School of Design in New York—where together they developed and created the pen’s first design.

“We designed SoaPen to address the fact that hand-washing with soap can prevent one out of three children from infectious illnesses that lead to high infant mortality rates,” said Shubham. “With SoaPen, kids can draw all over their hands with colorful, berry-scented soap sticks that rinse away to leave their hands clean.”

Though the SoaPen was first designed in 2015, Shubham is excited about new iterations of the product. “I don't think there will ever be a time when we will stop making changes to SoaPen,” she said. “We want to introduce a rainbow of colors and different sizes.”

Shubham noted, “For every three pens sold in the US, SoaPen donates one to a school in a low-income community in India.” This social giving model is one aspect of SoaPen that Shubham is excited to continually evolve to become more effective.