A WALTHAMSTOW businesswoman has travelled to a "no-go" region of Nigeria to help train disadvantaged women in making and selling soap.
Melinda Coss, of Grove Road, who runs website makesoap.biz and also teaches courses in soap making, visited Rivers State along with seven fellow soap makers from around the world.
They spent two weeks teaching thousands of women in the troubled state to make handmade soap as well the basics of business and marketing.
Ms Coss said: "I have just returned from the most amazing training trip. We actually taught 2,000 rural people how to make soap and were treated like royalty throughout."
The enterprise is part of a non-governmental project set up and funded by Lady Judith Amaechi, First Lady of Rivers State, under her "Empowerment Support Initiative".
The initiative is aimed at promoting vocational training and enterprise for disadvantaged people in her region.
Melinda Coss is the author of The Handmade Soap Book and Gourmet Soaps Made Easy and has also worked on projects in South Africa and Tanzania.
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