The speaker this year for the HTC Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series at Coastal Carolina University is Derreck Kayongo, founder of the Global Soap Project, on Tuesday, Sept. 24, at 3:30 p.m. in Johnson Auditorium. The lecture, titled "Harnessing Your Power to Create Change in the World," is free and open to the public.

The Global Soap Project is a group that recycles used hotel soap and redistributes it to impoverished nations around the world. Kayongo inspires and empowers others with his courageous story of survival, social entrepreneurship, humanitarianism and life lessons he learned along the way.

From Ugandan refugee to successful entrepreneur and renowned human rights activist, he encourages people to dream big, invent their own self-made motto of success, and help identify issues and solve challenges in various types of communities and organizations.

"We are very pleased to have Mr. Kayongo on campus," said Dan Ennis, interim provost. "His career is a testament to the ways sustainability and entrepreneurship can be complementary, and a time in which maybe believe those two areas must be in competition."

Kayongo is a member of the board of trustees for Helen Keller International, an organization committed to improving the sight of vulnerable populations around the world, and is the former CEO of the National Center for Civil and Human Rights.

HTC Distinguished Scholar Lecture Series, sponsored by Horry Telephone Cooperative Inc., brings external speakers to the CCU campus to lecture on matters of general interest to the community.

"We are grateful to HTC for this long-time partnership," said Ennis. "Their support makes it possible to bring stimulating and relevant expert speakers to campus, allowing both our students and the community the chance to learn more about the ways we can affect our future."

The Johnson Auditorium is located in Room 116 of the Wall Building on the main Conway campus.