Creative: Uchechi Zabdiel started to sell hand-made soap after losing his job with TK Maxx

A young entrepreneur who lost his job with TK Maxx amid the economic turmoil has reinvented himself – making bars of soap.

Uchechi Zabdiel, 26, was forced to join the dole queue after his temporary employment as a delivery worker for the fashion chain ended in October.

But he has made a clean start and now produces 120 black and transparent bars of soap each month before selling them on the internet and door to door to families and small shops in and around Barking and Dagenham.

Uchechi has also taken his business to other London boroughs.

He has been making soap as a hobby since he was in his teens. He previously worked in sales and gained an NVQ in information technology after leaving school.

Uchechi said: “It’s very difficult. There isn’t much out there. Many young people turn to crime and illegal activities.

“But we’ve all got something. It’s within yourself. Everyone has. Sometimes you can’t see it. Sometimes it takes another person to point it out to you. Everybody can make it work.”