GROW Nebraska® Foundation and Buy Nebraska Blog

Six years ago, Andrew Vrbas was a budget-strapped college student making soap in his college apartment. He had an idea for a business that would help change the lives of people around the world. After just five years in business, his Pacha Soap Co™ enterprise is already doing that. The business that he and his wife, Abi, started in Hastings in 2013 has donated 3.4 million bars of soap to people in developing countries, has created 256 jobs in Nebraska and around the world, has provided 74,078 children with hand-washing education and has created wells to provide 4,000 people with clean water. And in 2017, Whole Foods honored Pacha Soap with its 2017 Supplier of the Year award. It all started with Andrew’s 2010 trip to Peru. “As a junior in college, I didn’t know that a trip to volunteer for others would ignite a life change in me,” Andrew said. “My trip took me to Peru, South America, to volunteer at a local school and then later on, a local constructio...

HASTINGS -- The idea came to Andrew Vrbas as the crowded old bus, which tilted precariously on its shot suspension, wound its way through the Andes Mountains in southeastern Peru. The Kansas native was a year out of high school and had spent nearly three hours each day traveling from his host’s home in a small community outside of the city of Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, to the school where he taught English to children. Flooding had drowned out the tourism industry for the season, putting many people out of work. People needed jobs, and he wanted to help. A thought surfaced as he sat on the bus thinking about jobs and modern amenities often taken for granted in the states. Soap. From that simple thought grew ambitious dreams of putting people to work producing millions of bars of soap and providing a wholesome product to schools that would improve the lives of children and protect them from disease. Hand washing is a simple way to help prevent pne...