KHALIUNGOO Ganbat - How She Got a Fulbright Scholarship at Vanderbilt After Oyu Tolgoi & Pursued Development Sector at Asia Foundation
Interview by Batzul Gerelsaikhan, Photos by Suniko.
Get to know KHALIUNGOO Ganbat (Hobby: 2000-2006), the Urban Governance Project Manager at The Asia Foundation in Mongolia, the first Mongolian Fulbright Scholar at Vanderbilt, and a Board Member at Mongolian Association of State Alumni (MASA) & Mongolian Young Leaders Network (MYLN). Previously, she worked at Oyu Tolgoi LLC and Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC. Fluent in Mongolian and English, Khaliungoo has a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from KDU College, Malaysia, and a Master’s degree in Economic Development from Vanderbilt University, USA, with a Fulbright scholarship.
Full name: Khaliungoo Ganbat
Hobby Alumni: 2006 (years attended 2000-2006)
Higher Education: Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration & Management from the KDU College, Malaysia; Master’s degree in Economic Development from Vanderbilt University, USA, with a full Fulbright scholarship.
Sector(s): Mining, Development; Non-Profit
Current Workplace: The Asia Foundation Mongolia; MASA; and MYLN
Past Workplaces: Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC, Oyu Tolgoi LLC, and International Economics College of Mongolia
Languages: Mongolian, English
Countries Lived In: Mongolia, Malaysia, USA
Frequented Website: ikon.mn, ulaanbaatar.mn, theguardian.com
Current phone(s): iPhone XS
3 Apps To Recommend: SmartUB, Airvisual, Outlook
3 Books To Recommend: “When Breath Becomes Air” by Paul Kalanithi, “The Last Thousand” by Jeffrey Stern, “Elon Musk: Tesla, SpaceX, and the Quest for a Fantastic Future” by Ashlee Vance
3 Movies To Recommend: Sweet November; Matrix; and The Grinch
3 Songs You Are Listening To Most Right Now: “Lost on You” by LP, “Circles” by Post Malone, “She” by Elvis Costello
AT HOBBY SCHOOL
1. How many years have you studied at Hobby School and where have you studied before and/or after Hobby?
I was at Ground School, another private school, before Hobby. It was actually really good school till the Principal sold the school to someone else, and after a year of operation it went bankrupt, so a lot of kids transferred to Hobby in 2000. I studied at Hobby for 6 years (5th grade till graduation in 2006).
2. What kind of a student were you?
I was very quiet and my grades weren’t great, because my English wasn’t good. Ground School did teach English, but only one English class - that’s it; while Hobby School taught math in Mongolian and math in English, history in Mongolian and world history in English, Mongolian literature and then English literature, etc. I really struggled for 2-3 years with my English, but it got better and I graduated as a straight-A student.
3. What motivated you to become a straight-A student?
“My grades were constantly disclosed to my parents, so it was a fear of being scolded by my parents. My parents worked really hard to pay for my education, so that was my first motivation, but as I grew older, I had a much better vision about my future and I realized that I needed to study harder. ”
Also, everyone around me was studying really hard at Hobby, so the people and environment around me really influenced me.
4. What’s your fondest memory of Hobby and who was your favorite teacher?
I don’t know why, but my most mischievous memories keep coming into my mind (laughs). One time, I was caught cheating on my science test. Our science teacher was really nice, but at exams she became extremely strict. One time, she kicked out half of the class for peeking into the books. As for me, I got caught copying from my older sister Solongo who was in the same class as me and she gave me 0% F. Later she called me and said if you try really hard, you can still get 80% B as a final grade, but you cannot cheat again. It was a huge trigger for me and I was really embarrassed, so I really studied harder after that.
But my most favorite teacher would be our world history teacher: Neil Geyette. Aside from standard curriculum, he used to show us movies with popcorn and chips, make us write journals every week (where we can write about anything we wanted). I wish teachers were more like him, because everything he taught us, i.e.: Holocaust, Cold War, etc., really stuck with us. Teachers shouldn’t just force kids to read and give test, be more like Niel!
5. What influenced you to choose KDU College, Malaysia?
After Hobby, I was competing in a Global Leaders Foundation (Глобал Удирдагч Сан) competition, which gives 70-100% scholarship to go to American Schools. I was pretty sure I was going to the USA, but my parents wanted me to go to somewhere closer and safer to them, because I was only 16 years old when I graduated Hobby, so I enrolled at KDU College in Penang, Malaysia (a Muslim country) instead. I studied Business Administration & Management for my bachelors.
6. Why Malaysia? What was it like to study there?
My parents wanted to keep me close, so they picked Malaysia, because it is closer than USA and most importantly Mongolians do not need a visa to go to Malaysia.
“We also considered Singapore (no-visa needed), but the Malaysian education was similar in terms of quality and also classes were taught in English, but most importantly, the tuition fee was 10 times cheaper and the cost of living was affordable, so we picked Malaysia.”
The Penang Island, where my college is at, is the most touristic island in Malaysia. Actually it is one of the most touristic islands in Southeast Asia. It’s beautiful and it is also known as the “Food Island” - the street food is the best in Asia and I gained around 20kg there (laughs). The Penang Island was the center of British settlement during colonization of Malaysia and all of the architecture and buildings in Georgetown - the capital of Penang Island - are really beautiful like any other European old towns.
Personally, it was very odd for a sixteen year old Mongolian to come to a new country and have summer all year round - it was so hot. I am used to the temperature drops in winter in Mongolia. Also, I really enjoyed how everyone around me talked in English.
However, do you remember a Mongolian girl, Altantuya Shaariibuu, died brutally in Malaysia in November 2006? I remember this clearly, because I was in Malaysia and there was a huge mess at school. Some of the Mongolian students left Malaysia for good, because they found Malaysia dangerous after that. It was all over the news and it is still on the news today. I decided to stay, because I found Malaysia to be safe for me, especially the Penang Island. I think wherever you are could be unsafe if you are with the wrong crowd or at the wrong place.
7. Did you get any scholarship? Why Business Administration also?
No, it is pretty rare to get a scholarship from a private school in Malaysia, because it is already so cheap. I cut the cost even more by finishing the 3-year bachelor’s program in 2 years by doing 3 semesters per year. However, they do provide scholarships to local Malays - there are lots of different ethnicities in Malaysia.
As for picking my major, I honestly didn’t know what to study. I was just a sixteen year old girl. How would I know what I wanted to study? However, Business Administration taught us marketing, economics, management, etc., and I realized that I was more interested in economics, especially development economics. That’s why I did my master’s degree in Economic Development at Vanderbilt University, USA.
CAREER
7. You got a Fulbright scholarship for your master’s degree, but first let’s talk about what you did after you finished your undergraduate school. What was your first paying job?
I was only 19 when I graduated and my parents wanted me to come back home right away, so I did. Parents play a big role in our lives in Mongolia - ok? (laughs)
My first paying job was at a private college called Institute of International Economics and Business (Олон Улсын Эдийн Засаг Дээд Сургууль) in 10th microdistrict where I taught Business English for 2 years. I absolutely loved the job, but not the salary (laughs). A lot of underprivileged students from different provinces in Mongolia used to study there and I loved sharing my knowledge with them, but I realized that I couldn’t sustain my life with such low income or develop myself, so I jumped into mining sector instead. I joined the “Community Relations & Regional Development Department” of Oyu Tolgoi LLC in 2010 soon after they signed the Investment Agreement in Mongolia.
8. Did you apply anywhere else? Why Oyu Tolgoi?
I only applied to Oyu Tolgoi LLC (“OT”), because OT was all over the news with “OT is the Future of Mongolia” headlines and it was right after the Investment Agreement, so they were mass-hiring. I wanted to be part of this history and I went in without really knowing what a mining industry was, but after a couple of interviews and exams, OT hired me as an Admin Officer. After a couple of months, they promoted me to Community Agreement Officer, where I mainly supported the Community Development Agreement negotiation process between the company and the Southgobi province government. Later, I was responsible for monitoring and evaluation of their community projects.
9. Everyone knows about OT, but as a tradition please explain OT in your own words?
Back in 2010, the international media used to say “OT put Mongolia back on the map” meaning nobody knew Mongolia before OT or after Chinggis Khaan. This huge copper and gold ore was found in Southgobi and it was the largest untapped and undeveloped deposit in the world. Southgobi’s copper and gold is bigger than “Manhattan” in New York.
“Mongolia is 80-90% dependent on mining revenue. However, there are many Mongolians who think we should close down OT or any other mining companies. Obviously, we can stop and close any mine - it is up to us, but people often forget that this mining revenue is paying for salaries of teachers, doctors, police, etc.”
Our country is run on mining revenue. People need to see the difference between responsible and irresponsible mining.
10. What are your thoughts on regulating irresponsible small mines and ninjas?
Responsible mining companies like OT or the other mining company I worked after my graduate studies, Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC (“CGM”), want to and do give back to the community. For instance, OT gives $5 million every year to SouthGobi province to develop the neighboring communities in accordance to the local Community Development Agreement, in addition to the local hires (93% of employees were Mongolians, of which 22% were from Southgobi province, as of 2019Q2, ) and local procurement ($3 billion worth procurement from 2010-2019Q3). Responsible mining companies such as OT and CGM work hard to gain and maintain their Social License to Operate, meaning to get approval and consent to mine from the communities around the mine. This is besides and beyond exploration and mining licences.
“However, irresponsible miners (i.e.: ninjas) destroy the environment, make zero to very poor rehabilitation, does not give back to the community, never pay tax properly or the full amount and forget about social responsibility.”
So I want people to start thinking, which mining do we need? The responsible ones like OT or irresponsible ones?
11. What is the right way to spend the mining revenue in Mongolia?
Of course mining is not sustainable, the resources will run out one day, so while we have the mining revenue, Mongolia should diversify the economy and invest in other sectors. Before we say that we want to become a mining free country, we need to start developing other sectors that will generate revenue for Mongolia. If that’s tourism, then we need a proper airport, airlines, roads, toilets, etc. There is poor infrastructure to receive mass tourists right now and get the proper tourism revenue to run this country. We can use our mining revenue to make our infrastructure proper first at least.
I always support responsible mining companies in Mongolia or elsewhere. We can learn from Australia and Canada, the classic mining success stories, and see how we can use the mining revenue to build the country right. It is not a one-person’s job to fix all our problems. I wish that we as a society would better understand that our country is currently dependent on mining and we are not in a position to shut it off completely, but to support and cooperate better with the responsible mining companies.
12. OT (owned by Rio Tinto, Government of Mongolia and other shareholders in Turquoise Hill Resources) is one of the biggest employers in Mongolia, i.e.: 2,500 full-time staff and indirectly supports over 10,000 contract and subcontract jobs. But when you joined in 2010, what was it like?
Ivanhoe Mines was still the majority shareholder back then, so management people were mostly Ivanhoe. It was all construction and they hadn’t started ore shipping, you see, so they were just hiring people and training Mongolians. I don’t recall the exact number of employees back then, but you can call it “the recruitment and construction phase” of OT.
13. What did your “Community Relations” department do in Mongolia?
OT is based in Khanbogd soum in Southgobi province of Mongolia and the company would allocate an annual budget as part of their corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the money would be invested in the socioeconomic development of the neighboring communities around the mine, including Dalanzadgad, the capital of Southgobi.
“Historically, many mines around the world has given out cash to the locals around the mine, but it resulted in a lot of negative impacts as the community residents became too dependent on the mining company. After a while the residents lose their will to work or go to school as they expect the mine to support them forever.”
But the resources run out and when the support stops, the community cannot sustain itself and a lot of times turns into what we call ‘ghost-towns’. I’ve visited many ghost mining towns in the Appalachian region in the USA during my masters study.
Free cash distribution brings huge negative mining impact, so at OT, we wanted to do it properly and do it better. OT sent me to Australia for a month to study this impact and I travelled all around Australia to learn and observe how mining and people can live alongside each other sustainably. I came back to Mongolia to bring the good examples and we started negotiating the “Community Development Agreement (CDA)” with the Southgobi province. It took us 4 years to negotiate and sign the agreement as we followed international process and good practice for CDA - how to negotiate, what to include in the agreement, how to implement and monitor, etc.
14. It took 4 years to negotiate a contract?
It had a lot to do with political instability though. For instance, whenever we were negotiating, the Government changes and the new Government wouldn’t approve the already negotiated agreement with the past Government and we had to restart the negotiations.
“It is extremely sad, because if we had finished the negotiation sooner, the ($5 million per annum) benefit could have been received to the local communities in Southgobi province sooner rather than later. There was no reason to keep negotiating the agreement for so long.”
Unfortunately, that’s the reality in Mongolia and remember how long it took the Investment Agreement to get signed with the Government? In 2012, the underground mining shut down because the Government couldn’t reach an agreement when it was disclosed that more investment was needed in order to construct the underground mine due to unforeseen obstacles during the underground construction. The Mongolian Government didn’t approve this budget increase and there was a long pause and it impacted our CDA negotiations as well.
Despite the delays, I absolutely loved my job though and it made me question “What is the right path for development?”, “What is the best sustainable approach for mining communities?”, etc., and that’s why I decided to apply for Fulbright scholarship to learn more about this, and I got the scholarship! The CDA was officially signed right before I left for my master’s degree in the USA.
15. There are two types of licenses in Mongolia - exploration and mining. For exploration, the annual fee to hold the license is ₮145 per hectare for the first year, ₮290 - 2nd year, ₮435 - 3rd, ₮1,450 - 4-6th, ₮2,175 - 7-9th, and ₮7,250 - 10-12th years. For mining, the annual fee is ₮21,750 per hectare, but if it is a special license, then it is discounted to ₮7,250 for limestone, coal, minerals for domestic production & usage.
There is also the minimum expenditure requirement where you pay nothing for the first year, $0.5 per hectare for 2-3rd years, $1 - 4-6th, $1.5 for 7-9th and $10 - 10-12th years. All these requirements - is it standard around the world?
These are only license holder fees and this is normal. There are many other requirements to keep the licences and Mongolia has all the laws and regulations, but the compliance side is the issue. Either there is not enough manpower to ensure the compliance or corruption comes into the play. If you are out in the community, you will notice some irresponsible exploration license holders are actually mining on their exploration license area with no mining licenses or permits. It’s really sad.
Our Government stopped issuing new and more exploration licenses, because they couldn’t manage the current ones properly.
“Exploration is a gambling game - high risk and high reward. You dig and dig, but you might not find any deposit, right? So let the investors dig, invest and explore at their own risk and keep the exploration license revenue coming to Mongolia. ”
Exploration is welcomed in many mining countries and do not have hard regulations around it, i.e.: Canada and Australia. Getting an exploration license is really difficult in Mongolia and our very own geologists are jobless! I don’t know why that is. Other mining countries understand that exploration is a gambling game, so they have a lesser strict regulation to support the license issuance.
All these are related to corruption. My current organization The Asia Foundation has been conducting corruption or transparency survey for many years. Corruption in Mongolia is not getting better, only petty corruption has slightly gone better, but this is also because other countries are fighting against corruption and continuously improving their ranking.
16. What is it like to work in a male-dominant mining industry as a woman?
I was based in Ulaanbaatar office, so the majority of the staff were women. However, if you go to the site, almost 90% of them are men. Anywhere in the world, mining is a man-dominated industry. It felt good and I feel powerful. I learnt a lot. As a woman, I understood why women need to be in the mining industry. For instance, if you go to the site, you will find female dump truck drivers. It is impressive how they are driving such a huge dump trucks. There is a study that shows female driven dump trucks have lower maintenance costs, while the male driven dump trucks are broken easily in a shorter period of time and have a higher maintenance costs. This is important, because…
“...one tire of the dump truck costs as much as a brand new Land Cruiser. It is very expensive, but men depreciate our assets much faster than women, so in my opinion more women should join the mining industry. ”
However, compared to many mining countries, Mongolia has much more women in the mining industry, which is good. I believe it has to do with our society where Mongolian women are more educated and even the stay-at-home moms do some sort of work, because they want to be economically independent. However, it is a tough job for a woman, especially if it is “14 days at the site, and 7 days in the city” job. This is why mining has one of the highest pays.
17. What is one of the best things the OT “Community Relations” department did in the Southgobi province?
The best thing that we did is the CDA with the Southgobi government. The Community Relations department is not the project implementer though. There is a committee, which decides how to spend the $5million every year. This money will be and has been given every year since 2015 to Southgobi province regardless of whether OT is making money or not, so this is a huge contribution to the local areas surrounding the mine. The CDA will continue until 2039 in accordance to the “Investment Agreement” effective date. After 2039, they need to make an extension for both agreements again. For instance, OT built and furnished 840-child school and kindergarten complex in Khanbogd and many other projects within the scope of the CDA.
“Southgobi is the richest province in Mongolia thanks to the OT CDA. OT pays one of the highest taxes ($2.5 billion tax from 2010-2019Q3) from Southgobi province to the Mongolian Government; unfortunately this tax is not kept in the Southgobi province. ”
Mongolia has centralized taxing system, where the Government of Mongolia collects taxes from all provinces and allocates it back dependent on population size and few other factors. Southgobi pays the highest tax because of OT, but because their population is so small, they get back so little of what was paid. However, the CDA $5million is given ONLY to the Southgobi, so Southgobi province has the CDA money every year.
18. Basically Khanbogd or Dalanzadgad can become an actual decent city if they get the full proceeds, right? Are cities caused by mining sustainable? What are your thoughts on Erdenet city, which was created thanks to the Erdenet Copper Mine?
There are three types of mining communities. For mines to host their employees, there are 3 ways:
1) “Fly-in and fly-out” like OT where they built temporary camps inside the mine site;
2) “Community Based Town” is where communities organically grow and mining companies just support the process and mining employees start living there due to economic and social benefits and means there; and
3) “Company Town” is like Erdenet city or any other Soviet mining cities. There used to be tons even in the USA as I mentioned earlier. Erdenet city and its schools, power plants, apartments, roads and community halls were built by Erdenet Mining Corporation SOE. Everyone in Erdenet are dependent on the company - they all work there, supply or have small business there.
“If Erdenet company shuts down, I worry that the entire city becomes somewhat unemployed and Erdenet city will become another ghost town. ”
I went to many “dead” coal company towns in the US and they all failed even though it was a brand new town. The mine closed and the city became a ghost town. From this I learnt that the 2nd option “Community Based Town” is the best and there are many studies that support this claim.
It makes sense for other companies to start building multi-purpose apartment complexes in Khanbogd soum, because OT finished paved road from Khanbogd soum to OT site and it only takes a few minutes to drive and get to work. Also, they prefer to hire people from Khanbogd soum instead of Ulaanbaatar - it is cost effective for OT and it is also good for Khanbogd locals. OT is also building a power plant in Southgobi.
19. Is this OT Power Plant really getting built in Southgobi though? It has been delayed and discussed for so long.
OT is obligated to build a power plant in SouthGobi province by year end 2020 in accordance to the Investment Agreement I believe. It was only delayed because the Mongolian Government would not tell them where to build the power plant. First it was Khanbogd soum, then at OT site, then at Dalanzadgad and now it is finally near Tavan Tolgoi mine. Unfortunately, Mongolian Government changes every 1.5 years, so it is hard to reach an agreement.
OT was blamed for buying electricity from China, but it was unfair of the Mongolian Government to expect OT to keep relying on diesel generated power to run that size of a big mine when in fact it was their fault for delaying on location.
“We need to understand that 34% of any overrun costs at OT will be paid by Mongolians and any delays not only hurt the other shareholders, but it will hurt us too.”
20. After OT, you became the first Mongolian Fulbright Scholar at Vanderbilt University, USA. How hard was it to get this scholarship for your master’s degree?
Ever since I was a kid, my dream was to study in the US on a full scholarship. My parents did not let me go for my bachelor’s, so I was adamant about it for my masters. I applied for Fulbright, and it is the most privileged scholarship in the world. Did you know that majority of Nobel Prize Winners are actually Fulbright scholars? Hence, Fulbright is very competitive scholarship to get. Couple of hundreds of highly educated Mongolians apply and US Government only gets 4-5 students per year and Mongolian Government sponsors another a little over 10 students. I was sponsored by the US Government. The process takes 1.5-2 years: application shortlistings, essays, interviews, GRE exam (GMAT for MBA), etc. I had a full-time mining job where I worked 12 hours a day and my family (my daughter was 2 years old), so the struggle was real, but the commitment was also real. I studied for the GRE really hard and I got the scholarship.
As a Fulbright scholar, I am automatically the Ambassador of Fulbright Scholarship, so I want more Mongolians to know more about this amazing opportunity and apply for it. Fulbright not only pays for your school tuition, but also your housing, monthly stipend, insurance, books and event gives you money to buy laptops (laughs). Most scholarship opportunities in Mongolia are known to few Mongolians only and they take full advantage of it, I want to change this and let more people know about it. It is my duty to spread this opportunity to as many people as possible. You can actually visit the US Embassy in Mongolia website to learn more about this opportunity.
21. You went to the USA, and became the first Mongolian Fulbright scholar at Vanderbilt University. What did you do after your graduation?
“As a Fulbright scholar, you cannot stay in USA after your graduation. The US Government pays for your tuition fee, covers your living cost and even gives your spouse a working visa, but you have to serve your country for minimum 2 years.”
I wanted to come back to Mongolia anyway and I took a couple of months off before I started applying to two places - The Asia Foundation Mongolia (Vacancy: Deputy Project Manager for Urban Governance Project) and Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC (Vacancy: Community Relations Manager) - in 2017. Both companies offered me the position, but I picked Centerra Gold, because it was higher paid (laughs). Actually, I wanted to know what was it like to work in a different mine other than OT with my current knowledge.
22. I believe Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC was owned by a Canadian mining company before it was sold out to another company recently. What happened and what was your role at Centerra Gold?
Yes, Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC was owned by Canadian based gold mining and exploration company, which is publicly listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The company operated in Mongolia for over 10 years and sold out all its asset to OZD ASIA PTE Ltd., a private Singaporean company, in October 2018.
I was first hired as the Community Relations Manager, but after a year I got promoted to External Relations Manager, meaning I was responsible for community relations, media, and Government relations. However, because I studied development economics in the USA, I had this will to work for an American organization, especially in the development sector, so I applied for The Asia Foundation again. The previous Urban Governance Manager had left Mongolia, so I got the job in summer 2019 and here I am now.
23. How was it to work at a company getting sold to another?
Selling and buying businesses is all a normal process. After the sale, the management team changed, but did not do many other changes around the company. Centerra Gold Mongolia LLC already had a good corporate governance anyways, and I think the new buyers wanted to keep it that way. I absolutely enjoyed my time working at CGM; but just wanted to go into development.
24. Why? What does Asia Foundation do in Mongolia?
The Asia Foundation (“TAF”) is an international development organization, headquartered in San Francisco, USA. It was the first non-profit to be invited into Mongolia in 1990 as the country transitioned to a democracy and market economy. We started in Mongolia with our famous “Books for Asia” Program in the 1990s. We do not do much physical infrastructure projects, but we focus on building capacities of the Mongolian citizens. Currently, TAF focuses on four core areas: 1) Increase environmental resilience- Mainly on the solid-waste management system in ger district area; 2) Empowering women- We have our famous Women Business Center where we support women to start or expand their businesses; 3) Expanding international cooperation; and 4) Improving Governance - Where my project Urban Governance project and other transparency and corruption related projects fall into.
25. What exactly do you do at Asia Foundation?
I am in charge of managing the Urban Governance projects. I work closely with City of Ulaanbaatar’s Government (aka MUB, Municipality of Ulaanbaatar) on the following three issues:
a) Improving Citizen Participation in Decision Making via SmartUB application (available from March 2020, but you can download it now), which lets you vote on Local Development Fund. If you want to install more lights on your neighborhood street, fix road, etc., you can vote on this app.
“A lot of Mongolians complain about the government, but they don’t take any actions themselves. Citizens themselves needs to be more responsible and at least vote when they can. SmartUB app will help us”
b) Capacity Development of City Officials, i.e.: Public officials at Districts, Khoroo officials. We do communication training, excel training via Training Center with the City Government; and
c) Service Decentralization - We can get public services from 4 center points at Dunjingarav, Misheel Expo, Dragon & Orgil. The “One Stop Shop” idea was established with the support of Swiss Agency for Development & Cooperation (“SDC”) in Mongolia. My projects have been funded by SDC since 2015 and we just extended it for 3 more years. These service points are doing great, but we need more. My question is why can’t we get the most demanded services (ID & passport issuance) from our 173 Khoroos in Ulaanbaatar?
“Ulaanbaatar city is a metropolitan city and when you start working inside it (the public sector), you understand how difficult it is to run a city with the size of UB. ”
26. Can you name other international organizations conducting business in Mongolia besides Asia Foundation?
Swiss Agency, US-Aid, Millenium Challenge Account (i.e.: Compact 1 was $280million to combat air pollution and fix road and Compact 2 has started), GIZ, KOICA, etc., but I believe the biggest donator is JICA, Japanese aid organization. For instance, the majority of the new schools built when we were young, especially in the ger district, were funded and built by JICA money.
27. Can you talk about the “Asia Foundation Development Fellows” program?
Every year, Asia Foundation selects a certain number of future young leaders from Asia who are in the development sector, and every year one Mongolian gets selected, i.e.: Aldarsaikhan Tuvshinbat was selected from Mongolia in 2019. When you get selected, you go to the USA for one month and learn about US development, later they work at Asian countries to compare and learn about their development. All costs are covered by the Asia Foundation. After this 1 year program, you also get a funding to either implement a project or attend certain training to improve your knowledge. This opportunity is welcome to all who are interested in development sector and you can get to know more from our website.
PERSONAL
28. May we ask if you are single or married?
I have been married for 10 years and I have a 7 years old daughter who goes to Hobby School now - 2nd generation from our family (laughs).
29. How do you relax? What’s your hobby or where can we find you when you are not working?
I’ll be at home, E-mart, few indoor playgrounds or Terelj National Park. As a family, there are not many places you can go as a family in Mongolia, sadly.
30. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grow up?
I wanted to be a doctor, because my grandmother was a famous pediatrician in her soum in Selenge province. As a soum doctor, she had to travel to the patient, and she had a heart attached on her way to help a child at a nomadic household. Both me and my older sister wanted to become doctors, but we realized that you have to study for so long to become a doctor to study, but you get such a low salary when you start working in Mongolia, so we changed it and studied something else.
31. Now, where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
I will still be working in the development sector - careerwise. Personally - one more kid. However, no more studying! (laughs)
32. Who do you admire most in Mongolia? A living person and why?
“I admire Parliament Member Undraa Agvaanluvsan, because she has a PhD in Physics from North Carolina State University, and she was a Visiting Professor at Stanford University, but she came to Mongolia to help with the development of the country and now she is the Parliament Member.”
She is also the founder of Mongolian Young Leaders Network (MYLN), which I also serve as an Advisory Board Member. Undraa also initiated the #HeForSheMongolia movement in Mongolia. Politics is not an easy job, especially for a woman, but she always encourages other women and educated generation to join the politics. The young generation is not interested in politics, so she tries to make them understand that the younger generation’s voice is not heard and decisions are made by others.
33. Do you have any mentors? How did you pick them as mentors?
My mentor is Bruce Harvey, who is a geologist, but went into community relations sector in mining. I also know he tells other I’m his mentee (laughs). I met him in 2011 at OT and he really shaped how I see development. We still skype often. He really helped me on my Fulbright scholarship by coming into the office at 6am to help me with the difficult GRE preparation.
34. If you could compare yourself to another animal, what animal would you be?
Snake. Don’t ask me why.
35. What’s the best life advice that you’ve received? Who gave this advice?
When I got a Fulbright scholarship, I told myself that I will study as hard as I can and I will not party or enjoy myself in the USA, but the former COO of OT Ivan Villa, an Australian, told me not to live in such a triangle of dorm, library and school. “The US is covering all your expenses, so break the triangle and have some fun by going to other countries, compete in other competitions, etc” he said. Thanks to this advice, I went to work on two development project in Guatemala and the Dominican Republic and went all around the US.
36. A personal advice you would like to extend to fellow Hobby Alumni?
Come to Hobby Alumni events! Let’s support one another. Especially the younger alumni should understand that this is a great networking opportunity.
I would also like to add that when people read this kind of interviews, people do not know the struggles behind the successes. Shit can happen. People do not show the struggles and only highlight the success, so don’t get discouraged by impressive interviews, but get inspired instead. Be grateful that you are alive and work hard.
37. A personal advice you would like to extend to fellow Hobby students?
You are a kid, so don’t just study, but remember to have fun and do things outside your school.
38. What are your good and bad habits?
Good habit - I wake up at 6am every morning, because I take my daughter to school, and I always finish everything I started.
Bad habit - I get stressed out easily, but I am working on it (laughs).
39. Funniest story at work you can share with us?
When I first joined OT, they asked me to join this important meeting at OT mine site with a bunch of high-level lenders and auditors (i.e.: IFC, EBRD) and it was my 2nd day at work. OT was trying to secure money for their underground project, you see, and I was dressed to impress - skirt and high heels. I didn’t know I was supposed to wear mining clothes, but we went to the airport and we landed at the OT mine site and everyone thought I was this crazy lady. Till this day, my former OT employees still make fun of me about that.
40. If you can pass 1 law globally, what would it be?
Equal pay for the same position for both men and women.
41. Now if you can fix 1 problem in Mongolia, what would it be?
Fix air pollution. Mongolia is a wonderful place to live if we can just get rid of our air pollution first. Then we can focus on other problems. People are dying because of this.
42. If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be, and why? Also, what would be your first question?
Muhammam Yunus who is a Bangladeshi Nobel Peace Prize winner who went to the same school as me and got the same Fulbright scholarship. He helped Bangladesh alleviate poverty via microloans.
My first question would be: “What made you move back to Bangladesh?” because after his master’s degree, he did his PhD in the US and he was a full-time professor in the US, but he chose to go back to Bangladesh to help the poor and he used all his savings to start a microlending business.
43. Name 3 conspiracy theories you believe in.
I don’t believe in any conspiracy theories.
44. Who would you recommend to interview next from Hobby Alumni? And Why?
As a parent who lets my daughter study at Hobby, I would like to recommend Nemuun Gal, the Vice Principal of Hobby School of Ulaanbaatar, because he is known as a leading student counselor in Mongolia. He studied International Law at Moscow State Institute of International Relations University (МГИМО) in Russia and then did his LL.M Law at Columbia Law School in the US. He is an attorney and counselor-at-law in the State of New York. He is a great lawyer, but now he is dedicating all his time to kids and in charge of the AP course curriculum, Hobby’s new campus development project management, and the Hobby School debate club. He’d be great to read and get to know.
Nemuun Gal is also a Rumsfeld Fellow, UN Disarmament Fellow, Harlan Fiske Stone Scholar, and Charles B. Bretzfelder International Law Scholar. He just became one of the Board Members at Hobby Alumni also! Thank you for a great interview and recommendation.
Thank you!
“Most scholarship opportunities in Mongolia are known to few Mongolians only and they take full advantage of it and I want to change this and let more people know about it. As a Fulbright scholar and ambassador, it is my duty to spread this opportunity to as many people as possible. ”