KHISHIGBAT Ganzorigt, CEO of Monlogistics – On Leading Logistics Development in Mongolia
Interviewed by Nomunsor Soronzonbold.
Get to know Khishigbat Ganzorigt (Class of 2006), CEO of Monlogistics Holding LLC. Trilingual in Russian, English, and Mongolian, Khishigbat has a B.A. in Systems Engineering from the University of Florida, USA
Full name: Khishigbat Ganzorigt
Hobby Alumni: Class of 2006. (Years attended 2005-2006)
Higher Education: Systems Engineering at University of Florida
Languages: Mongolian, English, Russian
Sector(s): Logistics, Airline, Investment
Current Workplace: Monlogistics Holding LLC
Past Workplaces: Newcom Group, Eznis Airways
Frequented Website: ikon.mn, cnbc.com, finance.yahoo.com
Current phone: iPhone
3 Favorite Restaurants or Coffee shops in UB: Rosewood, Hutong, Namaste
3 Books To Recommend: Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson; 11 Rings: The Soul of Success by Phil Jackson; Zen Mind Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki
3 Movies or TV-Shows To Recommend: House of Cards; Wolf of Wall Street; 14 Peaks: Nothing is Impossible
3 Songs You Are Listening To Most Right Now: Tyler the Creator & Nigo- Come On, Let’s Go, Chet Baker- Chet Baker Sings (the whole album), A Tribe Called Quest- Jazz
3 Apps To Recommend: Peak; Balance; CodyCross
3 Podcasts or YouTube Channels To Recommend:
Education
1. How many years have you studied at Hobby School and where have you studied before and/or after Hobby?
I studied at Hobby for a little over a year. Enrolled in March 2005 and graduated in June 2006. One of the main reasons why I joined Hobby School was because I wanted to complete my high school program in 10 years. I joined Hobby school in the 9th grade, directly from 8th grade in Russian school #3. Russian programs were 11-year programs. The other reason was to improve my English because I was about to go to the UK or the U.S. before my bachelor’s degree. It was a brief experience, but it was enjoyable and valuable. I was exposed to a very different culture and environment.
2. What kind of a student were you? What was your favorite class/subject and who was your favorite teacher?
I was somewhat academically driven from an early age, mainly because I really enjoyed getting good grades. But I was not a super nerdy one, so I did enjoy having fun and spending time with my friends. I don’t know. I was outgoing and also serious, I guess. My favourite subject was Math and my favourite teacher was Amarjargal.
3. You were at private and public schools in Mongolia. How different were they from one another?
Russian Mongolian Joint School #3 is a very strict school. In the school area you must behave a certain way, in terms of time, communication it was very strict. If you know Soronzon, who is the director of the school, she was very strict. She instilled that discipline into the entire school, and created a very authoritarian environment. However Hobby was rather flexible and you are not under so much stress. I think later in my life, when I sent my kids to school, I understood the benefits of both worlds. Hobby cultivates a creative and diverse environment and provides children with the freedom to express themselves without any fear or restriction. That freedom was critical to raise a creative and free-spirited individual. At the Russian school #3, it’s not like that. They build soldier type of people driven by hard discipline. Academically both are really good and of course I really learned a lot from both. The Russian school #3 kids would talk in Mongolian and communicate in Russian with teachers, so it was fascinating to see Hobby students only speak English with one another.
4. What’s your fondest memory at Hobby?
First day of school at Hobby. I was dressed very inappropriately. I wore a colourful shirt, and the teacher criticized me. At Hobby everyone wears a white shirt, and I was wearing a very vibrant red shirt and it wasn’t a good start. And of course, the graduation ceremony and party were memorable.
5. After graduating, why did you pick Systems engineering and minor in business administration for your bachelor’s degree?
There were a few factors. Firstly, I was quite interested in math. I wanted to do something related to math. The second influence was my father and the fact that he is an engineer. He prides in an engineering mindset. He sold me the idea. Thirdly, the reason I chose systems engineering instead of other engineering disciplines, is because it provided me with the flexibility to pursue a wide range of career fields. Other majors seemed so focused on the specific discipline. Systems engineers analyses, designs, develops and measures the effectiveness and efficiency of a system or a solution. It also goes into great depths within the economics behind a system. So it's a good blend of engineering and business/economics. It's a very flexible and also very interesting major. That’s why.
6. How did you prepare for the SATs and TOEFL? Any tips?
For TOEFL, I prepared for it in Mongolia. I went to Jet school of English in Ulaanbaatar. My English was not that bad at the time. I prepared from a very early age starting from kindergarten. I attended foreign courses in London and Singapore to improve my English in high school. TOEFL wasn’t a big deal, but I still went to Jet school to get the TOEFL exam experience.
For the SAT, I prepared for it in Wales. I went there to get my IB diploma after graduating from Hobby. I studied there for 2 years. The SAT was difficult, especially the English section. You had to learn a lot of vocabulary and time management; small tactics are key to not failing the SATs. In Wales, we had a specific SAT preparation class. My SAT English wasn’t great but that’s how I prepared.
7. Did you get scholarships? What originally made you want to study at University of Florida? Were you the first Mongolian student?
Yeah, I did get other offers, but the University of Florida gave me a scholarship. So, it played a huge role in my decision. I got the DAVIS scholarship which is given mostly to students who graduated from United World Colleges (UWC). Mr. Shelby Davis valued the vision of UWC. He wanted to support young people who have global shared values. It was tuition only. I was the first Mongolian to attend their undergraduate and was the only Mongolian student.
8. How was college? Did you go to any exchange programs? Why are exchange programs important?
I couldn’t go to exchange programs. My program was supposed to be 5 years, but I wanted to finish it in 4 so I didn’t have the opportunity to go on any exchange programs. I was stuck in Florida for 4 years. It was a great experience. Starting from junior year, I got really busy and senior year was super intense. My freshman and sophomore years were fun. Met many great people and got to experience interesting places.
9. How different was the UK compared to the U.S. in terms of both education and lifestyle?
I experienced two totally different programs. While I was in the UK, I was in the countryside with only 300 students. The kids came from all over the world. My roommates were French, German, and Welsh, a very diverse group of students. But at the University of Florida, we had over 40,000 undergraduate students. It’s a huge campus. Socially and culturally the US and the UK are very different. British people are very conservative and old-fashioned for good reasons. But in America, it’s a very vibrant business environment. Creative and innovative, there is not much of a tradition, which is why I liked America more. I wasn’t into British traditions. I’m more of an innovator, I like new things.
10. What did you do after your bachelor’s degree?
After graduating in 2012, I immediately joined the Newcom group as an investment analyst. I was responsible for the financial analyses of some of the portfolio companies of Newcom group. Somehow, I came into the finance field. And ever since then, I stayed very involved with finance. That’s why systems engineering was very important. Because it gave me the flexibility to work at any place, understand and learn from any field. After working there for a year, I was seconded to EZNIS Airways as a manager of the planning department. At the time EZNIS wasn’t having the best of its days, as it was dealing with big financial difficulties. And unfortunately, after a little over a year, Eznis ceased operations, which was also the end of my career at Newcom Group.
After that, I started my own little startup company with a few of my friends. We wanted to introduce learning management systems to Mongolian universities, basically tried to digitise their programs. We did implement the software at four private colleges and universities. However full integration had proven to be more difficult than we expected. The management, the teachers and the students on top of a modern infrastructure all had to be ready for this huge technological and cultural transition.
After that, I spent more than a year working on a solar power plant project, which was completed in 2017 upon successfully raising financing from Japan. This 15MW solar power plant in Zamiin Uud was one of the very first large-scale on-grid solar projects in Mongolia.
While working on the solar project, I had already started working at Monlogistics Worldwide as a business development manager and to date, I’m still working at the company. Monlogistics has grown tremendously over the past 5 years and now is operating on a group scale and is widely considered as the leader in the transport logistics sector of Mongolia.
11. Did you pursue higher education after your bachelor's degree?
I didn’t go for my master’s, but I did executive education courses at the National University of Singapore (NUS) and Harvard. In 2019, I studied leadership and management at NUS. I also completed two executive education courses from Harvard. They were mainly finance related, one was private equity and the other was family office management. I can’t find the time to study for my master's. I would love to but at this time, I just can't find the time, with the company and my family.
CAREER
12. What was your first paying job?
My first paid job was my role at Newcom.
13. How was the job search market for your major?
To be honest, I don’t have too much experience in that. Joining Newcom was a very fast and short process. I wanted to join their clean energy project, but the HR lady offered me a role as an analyst. It took only 2 weeks to get myself a job. I guess I was lucky.
14. I noticed that you give a lot of investing advice on social media. How did you get started?
I started investing in 2010, but they were small investments. At the time I bought 3 stocks. One of them was Apple because I knew Apple was going to enter the Chinese market. The other one was Chipotle. I personally enjoyed Chipotle so much and I knew they had a global expansion plan. At the time it was a very small company. The third one was an energy company. I kept them for a few years and sold them while I was in Mongolia. Then started somewhat serious investing in March 2020, when COVID happened and there was a market downturn. I was waiting for that kind of opportunity because the market became more attainable. I wouldn’t call myself a professional because I’m a self-taught investor. I ask questions and advice from people.
15. What resources did you use to learn more about investing?
I have the basics of finance because I learned it in university. I also worked at Newcom so my past experiences contribute to my skill. Throughout the years I didn’t leave the field wholly. I still check on the news of how companies are doing on a regular basis. I was in tune with it.
My main source would be the internet and the Harvard investment class taught me a lot. It wasn’t a systematic learning process, but rather a messy one.
16. What made you make the transition from finance to logistics?
After EZNIS, I had the opportunity to stay at Newcom but I wanted something different. I had already spent 3 years there. I previously mentioned my start-up project on learning management systems and it didn’t work out because the market wasn’t ready, and I was inexperienced. But after that more opportunities came rolling in. There was a solar power plant project, we had raised over 30 million USD. I felt that I could use my skills and experience in the company. I personally like to challenge myself. Mongolia is on the brink of a very rapid logistics development phase. As engineers, we have the urge to fix a problem and it comes with its challenges. Tackling these problems is exciting.
17. With the rise in costs of all kinds of transportation, did the user rate drop significantly?
In fact, it increased. COVID really disrupted the entire business environment and supply chain management. Before that, almost the whole world used just-in-time inventory management, in other words, a heavy reliance on supply chain optimization. Companies choose where the cheapest manufacturers are and make logistics decisions on time. Every system was optimized to its limit, especially in advanced economies. COVID proved that we can’t rely on the current supply chain network system. They are shifting to a supply chain reliability or “just-in-case” method.
All companies are stocking more of their products because they are unsure when another war or border closure may happen. That increased the demand for logistics in the past 2 years. The import sector has seen a rise in demand. The price has increased significantly, more than doubling on certain routes. At the end of the day, the end user still needs the products. Trading companies need to fulfill their customer needs on a reliable basis. It has definitely been a challenging environment for us to operate but collectively we did rather well and are in a good place.
18. What do you think the government can do to support logistics companies?
First, we are very underdeveloped in terms of infrastructure and because of this, we are very inefficient. Secondly, I think the legal environment surrounding our sector has lots of room to improve. Supporting the companies is one case but if the government can make the infrastructure better, making regulations more flexible and transparent would be a good start.
19. There are a lot of transportation-related issues for Mongolia because we are a landlocked country. Recently, there was a forum to address the Tianjin port issue. Can you tell us more about it?
The Logistics Forum was the first of its kind with the main goal of bringing the key stakeholders together. We wanted at least one conclusion from all the discussions we had. Our industry is very unorganised in terms of regulation and authority. Mongolia is importing 60-70% of the goods we use, and the price of goods includes very high costs of transportation. There is no single entity to solve this issue so in a way our industry is very independent. Small companies try to fix their issues by themselves.
There were three goals we had in mind for the conference. We wanted to bring logistics companies and government entities together to raise a solution to at least some of the issues. We wanted to raise public awareness on the importance of logistics, and come to a consensus on what problems we’re facing and share industry details at all levels. The people should know about the positive outcomes of building new railroads and efforts from the government.
20. Do you mind telling us about the process and challenges of getting an investment? Because in March, Monlogistics was able to successfully get an investment from Mandal Private Equity?
My first investment raising experience was the solar power project. At that time, the Mongolian energy policy was to attract renewable energy. So, the government had very favorable terms for the project. We had SHARP invest in our project. In terms of foreign investment, the key issue is political stability. One day a person comes up and says something but the next day it changes. That kind of instability and inconsistency is by far the biggest risk for foreign investors which is why they require a premium of similar scale. They want to justify the risk and get a big profit which is understandable.
Domestic investment has been very limited until recently. We at Monlogistics sold some of our shares to Mandal Private Equity. Private equity firms are funds that are designed to invest in private companies and develop until they’re ready to go public. That’s when they exit.
Before Mandal raised these funds, you had 2 options as a business owner. You would either go to a very rich individual or go to the bank. The interest rate in Mongolia is very high so there aren’t many companies that can raise capital this way. But I do think slowly and surely we are moving in the right direction.
21. Is there a set of rules you follow in your business?
Integrity is very important. Especially in Mongolia, once you lose your integrity, it’s very difficult for you to conduct business so honesty and values are important.
22. Where do you see Mongolian logistics and the freight industry in 5 years?
In 5 years, we can have a very vibrant and efficient logistics industry. Our industry on the scale has the potential to compete with the current mining industry in terms of revenue for the country. If we develop our transit network, we can attract significant service export business and a lot of foreign cash inflow can be generated through our service. And of course, we can develop our rail network so we can export more physical commodities and increase our revenue. If we’re able to do this the government can spend more money on education, energy, and healthcare. The government has the most influence on these industries, yet they are obsolete compared to other countries. But I have a very bright outlook on Mongolia’s future. Of course, there will be many challenges but we just have to work through them.
23. What advice would you give to someone who is starting their own business and trying to import products from around the world? What are some of the things to keep in mind for the logistics?
Logistics service, especially the import service, has become rather accessible and developed its capability quite well over the past 30 years. We as a nation rely on over 60% of our consumer goods from other countries, therefore from this demand, logistics companies have come a long way in developing import services from almost anywhere in the world.
24. Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I might be at the end of my chapter at Monlogistics. Excited for the next challenge of my career. At a certain point, I have a keen interest in public service. But I would like to pursue it when I’m more experienced.
25. Is there anything you are afraid of regarding the future?
Not really. When I think of the future, I become more excited. Those things excite me rather than induce fear.
“Our industry on the scale has the potential to compete with the current mining industry in terms of revenue for the country. If we develop our transit network, we can attract significant service export business and a lot of foreign cash inflow can be generated through our service.”
FUN QUESTIONS
26. May we ask if you are single or married? What are your thoughts on family planning in Mongolia?
I’m married. I have 2 kids and have been married for 10 years. My oldest is a boy, he’s in his 3rd grade and my girl just joined her first grade this September. Family planning is very important. Especially if the parents want to pursue a serious career, you have to plan. Kids can really disrupt your plan. For instance, if I want to pursue my master’s degree now, I would be disrupting my children’ education. So, it is important to plan when you want to have kids and pursue education. The financial part is very important too.
27. How do you relax? What’s your hobby or where can we find you when you are not working?
Mainly at home. I would watch interesting documentaries and spend some time with my kids and wife. For me I juggle family, friends, and myself. I go to the gym 3 times a week at 6:30. That’s probably the only time I have for myself. I meet my friends once in a while. Work is very intense. Definitely I spend most of my time at work. I try to maximise family time as much as I can. I’m still young and focused on work and enjoying it.
28. When you were young, what did you want to be when you grow up?
I wanted to be the president of Mongolia. I don’t know if I had any idea of what they actually did, I just thought it was a very nice job.
29. Who is your role model in Mongolia? A living person and why?
My father. Because of his support, his selfless way of trying to develop me as a person and as a professional. He has been close with me since I was very little. We would talk about very serious topics and have monthly meeting sessions.
30. Do you have any mentors? How did you pick them as mentors?
Mandal Financial Group Chairman U.Ganzorig, I think, is my mentor. We haven’t had an official agreement about being a mentor and mentee. I met him 3 years ago when he became one of the board members at the company. Unfortunately due to time constraints, we don’t have regular mentor mentee sessions. I meet with him whenever I need to discuss strategy, leadership, personal development and marketing with him.
31. What’s the best life advice that you’ve received? Who gave this advice?
Of course, there is a lot of advice from different resources. In my opinion, the most important advice was “Whether it’s life, career, or business I like to treat things as if it’s a marathon. I like to look at the longer picture, rather than treating it like a short sprint”. Life is a marathon, not a sprint, where you are required to put in the constant effort and persevere. I don’t remember where I heard or saw it. I think it’s a very important message.
“Life is a marathon, not a sprint, where you are required to put in the constant effort and persevere.”
32. A personal advice you would like to extend to fellow Hobby Alumni?
I think the most important one is to keep in touch. Each one of us can only achieve a small amount, but if we can keep collaborating and cooperating we can achieve much bigger goals. Therefore, I think it’s very important for us to be close to each other. We must create a community. I myself haven’t been that active, so I’d like to be more active and engaged with the community. I think we should all make an effort to put this community together.
33. A personal advice you would like to extend to fellow Hobby students?
As Mongolians and as young people, one of the weaknesses we have is that we are afraid to dream on a significant scale. For instance, I have never heard a Mongolian kid say “I want to win a Nobel Prize for something”. Maybe because Mongolians have never earned a prize or recognition that significant, we just believe that we can’t or are even incapable of doing such grand things. And therefore there’s a big limitation on our mentality. We have to have the courage to dream boldly and have a bigger vision of ourselves in the future. For example, when we started winning gold medals in the Olympics, everyone in the sports community understood that if we work hard “We can achieve this gold medal”. After Tuvshinbayar won his gold medal, we started getting more medals in the games. That kind of mental breakthrough is very important for us.
“Each one of us can only achieve a small amount, but if we can keep collaborating and cooperating we can achieve much bigger goals. ”
34. What are your good and bad habits?
Good habit: morning routine, regular exercise, money management
Bad habit: social media scrolling, multitasking, daydreaming
35. Funniest story at work you can share with us?
That one probably should stay within the circle.
36. If you can pass 1 law globally, what would it be?
The idea of full and complete globalisation where we don’t have borders. That was the main vision of UWC. We should be understanding and respectful of different cultures. We should treat everyone equally and ultimately; we can create a world with no borders. We shouldn’t be bound by certain borders and passports that we created. If this does happen humankind will have a much higher consciousness than today but I don’t believe that I will live to see it happen.
37. Now if you can fix 1 problem in Mongolia, what would it be?
There are so many problems. Maybe unemployment and education. So many of the problems we see in society are a symptom of unemployment. If we can fix unemployment and get people to have proper income. The root cause of our poor financial situation is unemployment plus education. If we can fix these root causes the others are symptoms. I would try to fix unemployment in the short term and education in the long term. Education reform is critical.
38. If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive, who would it be, and why? Also, what would be your first question?
Chinghis Khan. I would ask what his vision was and what his ultimate dream was. Because, I truly believe that all the fighting he did was to achieve a higher purpose. I also believe that his purpose was very enlightening. I think he was trying to achieve this concept of a borderless, one peaceful earth. I’m fascinated with the idea of how a man could dream so big and have achieved such a big part of it. His strategy was through violence, but it was the sacrifice to achieve his dream. I have a lot of respect for the man.
39. Name 2 conspiracy theories you believe in.
John F.Kennedy assassination was an inside job.
Aliens have visited us from very early times.
40. Who would you recommend to interview next from Hobby Alumni? And Why?
Saruulbat Erdenesukh from the class of 2006. He recently came back to Mongolia after studying and living in Singapore for 7 years. Saruulbat had studied in probably 4 different primary schools in 4 different countries. So it would be very interesting to hear his Hobby experience as compared to other schools.
Thank you.