KHULAN Gantsog, CEO of Siilen Cashmere, Reintroducing the Mongolian Cashmere Industry to the World Through E-Commerce
Interviewed by Batzul Gerelsaikhan. Photographed by Suniko.
Full name: Khulan Gantsog
Hobby Alumni: 2007 (years attended 1999-2001)
Higher Education: Bachelor’s degree in Finance from the University of Utah, USA
Sector(s): Banking, Cashmere, Tourism, Movies, Investments
Current Workplace(s): Siilen Cashmere and Anand Adventures Tour Company
Past Workplace(s): CitiBank Smith Barney, USA; Ulaanbaatar Songdo Hospital, Mongolia; and ING Bank, Mongolia
Languages: Mongolian, English
Countries Lived In: Germany, Mongolia, Russia, Slovakia & USA
Frequented Website: Amazon.com, BCBG.com, MaxMara.com, KylieCosmetics.com,
Current phone: iPhoneX
3 Apps To Recommend: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn
3 Books To Recommend: Start up Nation, Chinese Banking Transformation, The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham
3 Movies To Recommend: Game of Thrones, Life is Beautiful, The Piano
3 Songs You Are Listening To Most Right Now: Bad Guy - Billie Eilish, Take it - Dom Dolla, Dancing with a stranger - Sam Smith ft. Normani
“My father made sure I went to a good school and had a good education. My mother, on other hand, always told me that I am capable of doing anything I want and she always believed in me. If I hadn’t had my parents and the education I received from school and from them, I wouldn’t have worked at CitiBank or ING Bank. I wouldn’t have found my business partner at Siilen Cashmere.”
AT HOBBY SCHOOL
1) How many years have you studied at Hobby School and where have you studied before and after Hobby?
I was at Hobby School from 1999-2001. Before Hobby, I was at “Ground” School (1996-1999), which is now closed permanently in Mongolia. Actually, half of the students who transferred to Hobby, in my time, were from Ground School. When Orchlon School opened, my parents decided to transfer me there, so I studied at Orchlon from 2001-2005, but ended up moving to Utah, USA, and I graduated from Spanish Fork High School in 2006.
2) What was America like? Was it your first foreign country after Mongolia?
No, it was actually my fifth "lived" country as I lived in Germany for 2 years, Russia for 4 years and Slovakia for 6 months. America was very diverse, open-minded and Utah was a super friendly state. However, I was a bit shocked to find New York not so friendly.
3) What kind of a student were you?
Let’s say I never missed any homework (as far as I remember) and never got grades below 80%.
4) Anything you would do differently if you went back to high school again?
Yes, I would have taken the SAT and TOEFL exams on time; and applied to more universities. I wasn’t aware of these important deadlines and when I started searching for Universities, I found the University of Utah to be the best option at that time.
5) What’s your fondest memory in high school and who was your favorite teacher at Hobby?
I really liked Galaa bagsh, who was our History teacher. I remember him getting into a helicopter accident when I was in my 3rd or 4th grade and it was a big shock. I guess this is not the fondest, but my most memorable “horror” moment. It is hard to recall as I was really young, but I also liked Jean Claude, our French teacher, who taught English. His teaching skill was wonderful. And last but not least our class teacher Otgonsuren who was a very caring and attentive teacher.
6) What influenced you to choose University of Utah and your major for your bachelors?
I was in Utah and the University of Utah was number one in the major field of Finance in the USA, so I picked that. I would’ve chosen a different university if I had known about the application deadlines earlier at that time, but now looking back, I wouldn’t change a thing.
“Mongolia is not on the list of approved countries on Amazon. Currently it consists of only developed countries, mostly from Europe and America, so you cannot list products from Mongolia on Amazon. I had to use my investor’s company in America and create a new U.S. bank account in America.”
CAREER
7) What was your first paying job?
My first paying job was at the University of Utah where I used to tutor math and accounting, and after that I got into the paid internship program at CitiBank Smith Barney for 2 semesters where I filed papers, contacted clients, arranged the database and generally learnt about basics of the banking sector. I finished my university at the same time when I finished my internship at Citibank, so I moved back to Mongolia in 2009.
8) Why did you move back though? Didn’t you want to stay at Citibank?
I could have stayed at Citibank for 2 more years or do my masters degree, but Mongolia was booming in 2009 and my parents kept insisting I should come back to Mongolia, because they were scared that if I get too educated and too qualified, I wouldn’t find anyone suitable to marry in the future. Generally Mongolians marry very young, so if I got my Masters’ degree or PhD I would be well over 30 by the time I come back to Mongolia. Most men seem to be terrified of "too successful" women and it was my parents’ most worrying aspect, so I moved back not for myself, but for my parents. But again, looking back now, I wouldn’t change a thing. I am happily married to a wonderful man and have 2 beautiful and super smart children.
9) Wow. What was it like moving back to Mongolia? What did you end up doing?
My father was one of the shareholders of Songdo Hospital in Mongolia and he was working as the Executive Director at that time, so he really wanted to teach me and show the working environment and culture in Ulaanbaatar. He hired me as the CRM manager where I managed the VIP clients of the hospital and there I worked for 1 year before moving to ING Bank as an Investment Officer.
10) Did you enjoy working at a hospital?
Although I worked with important and VIP clients, hospital was a completely different field, so didn’t really enjoy my time there, but I loved our community though. We had over 100 staff, so it was a fairly large community. I applied to the ING Bank because I saw the job announcement on the daily newspaper and it was very attractive as it was the first foreign representative bank in Mongolia. I also ended up being the only Mongolian at the only foreign bank in Mongolia.
11) Was it the first? What about Standard Chartered and all the Japanese representative banks? They all opened after ING Bank?
Yes, ING Bank was the first foreign representative bank and I believe they opened in 2008 at 8 Zovkhist building on Seoul street. Standard Chartered opened next, then UBS and other Japanese banks later. But most of these banks have closed their offices now. They’re here when Mongolia is booming and then they leave when Mongolia goes through bad times. ING has always been in Mongolia, they are still here, and I hope they will continue to have their presence in Mongolia in the future.
12) How long did you work there and how many were you at the office? What was your main role?
I worked at ING Bank for three years and there were only two of us in Mongolia - me and the Country Representative Howard Lambert - so I used to do everything from office work (keeping track of the accounting, compliance, HR, tracking of the ongoing projects that ING Mongolia was responsible for, etc.) to client meetings. I wasn’t interested in the ad hoc and admin works, so I had a deal with Howard, which was: “If I finished all my admin works on time, then I would go to the important meetings with him”. This exposed me to the financing world. Although I did work at CitiBank, I didn’t learn much as it was a back office, but at ING bank I was at the front office with the Country Representative at meetings and negotiations with other bankers, CEOs, and government officials. I learnt a lot from Howard and I made good connections.
13) To my knowledge, there are only a few international Representative Banks in Mongolia - ING, Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Bank of China and ICBC. Some left, i.e.: the Standard and Chartered. Why is it so hard for international banks to stay or open their offices in Mongolia?
If you’re talking about the hard aspect, I believe there is not enough transactions at the moment and the economy is at its worst right now. But speaking generally, Mongolia allows free capital movements across the border so banks don’t see the necessity to open branches in Mongolia. They can simply open a representative office, get deals done, move the money across the border to Hong Kong or Singapore branches for example. Or even better for them, not open any offices but simply fly to Mongolia whenever there is an ongoing negotiations, get work done, and then move the money across the border without any restrictions. Basically, the economy in general is not doing well, so most of the representative offices have left. If the economy booms again, then more will come back.
14) In your opinion, what’s the secret behind ING Bank’s resilience in Mongolia?
ING bank has always been here no matter what - from boom to bust. When the economy boomed, there were many rep offices, but when the economy tanks, most left, but ING bank is still here in Mongolia today. It is the most loyal foreign bank in Mongolia - not kidding.
“We buy our cashmere from Dornod and Khentii Provinces of Mongolia for beige cashmere, Khuvsgul for dark beige cashmere, and Bayankhongor for white cashmere. ”
15) From banking to healthcare, then back to banking and now cashmere? I find it extremely brave. What was the most difficult part in your journey?
To answer this question, maybe I should start with why I decided to quit my job at ING bank. I got married and I got pregnant, so I took my maternity leave. I was planning to come back and continue working at ING, but I found out that the guy who took over my job was paid 3 times more than me. I started telling myself maybe he is getting higher salary, because I am a girl or maybe he is 8 years older than me, but then he had no banking experience nor finance background, and I started questioning why I should get 3 times less for the same job?
16) Perhaps he went to an Ivy League school?
I don’t know about his school background but my school wasn’t bad either. At least, I did my major in Finance and I interned at CitiBank, which is not a lesser quality.
This finding was the trigger moment for me. I chose to start my own business and be self-reliant. I told myself that I shall not be dependent on anyone; and I will not be valued or get paid so low. So yes, I decided to go into the fashion and cashmere industry. It took me 4 years to really understand the field and know the technical parts and how everything works.
17) Mongolia produces a third of the global supply of cashmere and we have numerous local players in the cashmere industry in Mongolia. How and what made you go into the cashmere industry?
I got into the cashmere industry in 2015 when I was 25 years old. At that time, cashmere industry wasn’t as booming as it is now. Most demands for finished products came from Korea and Japan; and raw materials - China. Europe’s demand for finished products is great too, but really Korea’s demand started skyrocketing in 2016, so cashmere became no longer "the impossible to buy" and it became accessible to the middle class, so a lot of people started buying cashmere from Mongolia at a competing price and started importing to Korea.
18) But what made you get into the industry?
I always loved fashion and beautiful products. So the idea of designing beautiful products and exporting seemed attractive to me. Then I got more interested in sweater designing specifically after getting myself into this industry. Another important reason I chose this industry is to support the economy by promoting exports. I don’t like the idea of importing as tugrik is such a volatile currency that gives me no guarantee that I would make good margins if one day I wake up and the tugrik goes down by 5 to 10 percent. Also the market is so small and the general purchasing power is not so great in Mongolia.
19) But why cashmere?
My options for raw materials were yak wool, sheep wool, camel wool, and cashmere. The softest was cashmere, so I chose to work with cashmere in Mongolia.
20) What makes Siilen cashmere stand out from other cashmere players in Mongolia?
Definitely design. We focus a lot on the design, and we produce products with a lot of details - elegant yet complex styles. For example, on average a linking person can produce only 1-2 pieces a day with our complex styles versus 14 simple basic pieces you see everywhere in Mongolia. Our product is more detailed and it is more labor intensive.
Secondly, quality. We buy our cashmere from Dornod and Khentii Provinces of Mongolia for beige cashmere, Khuvsgul for dark beige cashmere, and Bayankhongor for white cashmere. We select the finest micron and the longest fibre that we can find from our suppliers. From the lab testing, we found out that our average length is 40-44 millimetre and the thickness is about 15.5-16 microns for our cashmere compared to an average Mongolian cashmere length of 36-38 mm and 16-16.5 microns.
21) And globally?
Loro Piana buys raw cashmere from Mongolia. China also buys from Mongolia. I am selling Mongolian cashmere from Mongolia. I would also like to highlight that the people I work with are very experienced and have been trained by working with well known Italian and U.S. designers.
With a good experience and a great quality of cashmere with low cost of human capital, I would say Siilen Cashmere is placed at favorable position. Our cost of manufacturing is low and our price is favorable compared to Loro Piana and other international brands.
22) How many people work for Siilen Cashmere?
Full time 16 at the moment but during high season we have 26 people with some contractual employees.
22) Where do you see Siilen Cashmere in 5 years?
I see Siilen Cashmere in 20 years. When I started this business, I had my daughter in mind. My daughter’s name is Siilen and I named my company after her. When she grows up and finishes her university, hopefully she will take over this business, but only if she is into fashion and cashmere industry. I would like to see Siilen Cashmere as a peer amongst high end cashmere brands like Loro Piana.
In 5 years, we would be competitive in the middle class market, but in the next 20 years we will be competitive in the high end market.
“As a Mongolian citizen you can make payments via Paypal to some other countries, but we cannot receive overseas payments to Mongolia. This creates a big problem, because Mongolian companies like mine start to create overseas bank accounts and all the money is collected to the overseas banks and not in Mongolia. Because of this, I am now paying taxes in the USA and soon in South Korea. I’d rather pay taxes and give tax revenue to my home country, but the Mongolian Government, Mongol Bank, and the Mongolian legal framework are making it impossible. ”
23) On social media, you are a very outspoken person. You share openly about your struggles and you do not hide anything. One of the things I remember was reading about how hard it was for you to list your products on Amazon.com. Can you tell us why was it so hard to list Mongolian products on Amazon?
Mongolia is not on the list of approved countries on Amazon. Currently it consists of only developed countries, mostly from Europe and America, so you cannot list products from Mongolia on Amazon, so I had to use my investor’s company in America and create a new U.S. bank account in America. After that, I finally got the account to list my products on Amazon. However, Amazon was able to track my IP address and found out that I kept logging in from Mongolia, so my account got shut down by them. I did it again with a different VPN, but they suspected the activities to be suspicious: our accounts were in America, but the actions were taking place at a suspicious time, which were taking place at a Mongolian time with a huge time difference. They found it suspicious so they shut it down again. Amazon’s tracking system is very smart and consistent and they shut me down twice. After this I hired people to help me in the USA and later hired an Israeli company to do the online sales and promotions
24) Why Israeli?
My investor lives between America and Israel, so we used his connections and they worked on establishing the accounts on Amazon. So finally we are on Amazon now and we started selling only the basics: V-necks and C-necks cardigans with different colors. That was it, as a start. We did our research and there was a company called Jennie Liu and State Cashmere brands selling cashmere on Amazon and they were doing so well, i.e.: per month they were selling 12,000 pieces. Their most sold products were hoodies, crew neck and v-neck cardigans ranging from $100-120 per piece.
25) So Sillen is an American company now?
No, Siilen Cashmere is incorporated in Mongolia and we just have Representatives in the USA, in order to keep our account on Amazon. We also had some problems with payments.
26) What kind of payment problems?
For instance, as a Mongolian citizen you can make payments via Paypal to some other countries, but we cannot receive overseas payments to Mongolia. The reason is that there is no legal framework in Mongolia, which protects Paypal and online sales, so Paypal is not coming to Mongolia nor extending their service to Mongolia. There are issues and restrictions from the Mongol Bank and we cannot collect/receive money to Mongolia.
This creates a big problem, because Mongolian companies like mine start to create overseas bank accounts and all the money is collected to the overseas banks and not in Mongolia. Because of this, I am now paying taxes in the USA and soon in South Korea. I’d rather pay taxes and give tax revenue to my home country, but the Mongolian Government, Mongol Bank, and the Mongolian legal framework are making it impossible.
27) I was not aware of this problem. How can we fix this? Are all banks in Mongolia lobbying against this or what?
I am not sure about the banks lobbying, but the law needs to change in order to welcome companies like PayPal and make ecommerce more open.
28) I realized that you have no physical shops in Mongolia or anywhere in the world. Will you open any or are you planning to stay at online shopping only? How can we buy Siilen Cashmere products besides Amazon.com?
You can buy directly from our factory in Mongolia, but I am not sure if I will open a physical store in Mongolia right now, because when I started Siilen Cashmere I wanted to bring hard foriegn currency (USD) to Mongolia, which would help the economy. Also, I see more opportunity, demand, and purchasing power overseas. It makes sense to sell $1,800 cashmere coat in Manhattan, USA, compared to Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. Big cities like New York, London, Seoul and Tokyo are much more attractive to me.
But maybe who knows! Maybe I’ll open a proper factory store, but we will not sell it at a factory price like the local brands, because Siilen Cashmere is targeted for mid to high end market and it is pointless to keep selling it cheaper here. If we open a factory store in Mongolia, we will only sell basics like other local brands so we can compete with prices and get rid of our stock items.
“This low to no taxes on raw cashmere is great only for herders and their livelihood in Mongolia because there will always be high demand from foreign buyers if there is no tax, but herders in Mongolia do not pay any tax to the Mongolian Government, so basically Mongolia is getting no tax revenue from the raw cashmere exports. ”
29) Mongolia produces majority of the raw cashmere and we ship them raw to China and China produces the majority of the finished products. What is Mongolia doing wrong? What is wrong with the supply?
Right. The problem lies with exporting raw cashmere abroad without tax. Starting from last year, we just started taxing raw cashmere and washed cashmere, but no tax on the dehaired cashmere. If we start taxing the dehaired cashmere, then the spinning facilities in Mongolia can improve as the buyers would want to avoid exporting at higher price and would instead spin the cashmere in Mongolia in order to export VAT free.
Previously, foreign buyers used to buy tax-free raw cashmere from the Mongolian herders, wash the cashmere here and leave the dirt, then export without paying a single tax. Of course they wouldn’t want to transport dirt so they washed it here and paid no taxes. I am not saying exporting raw material is wrong, I only want the Mongolian government to tax sufficiently for the raw materials, so at least the Mongolian Government would benefit from the raw cashmere exports.
Right now the Government has imposed a small tax on the washed cashmere, which is a big step forward. Now it would be more beneficial for them to tax the dehaired cashmere if they want to develop the spinning industry in Mongolia.
This low to no taxes on raw cashmere is great only for herders and their livelihood in Mongolia because there will always be high demand from foreign buyers if there is no tax, but herders in Mongolia do not pay any tax to the Mongolian Government, so basically Mongolia is getting no tax revenue from the raw cashmere exports.
Also, factories that are in wholesale business in Mongolia are having a hard time buying raw cashmere, because they are buying raw material at a very high price due to high demand from the Chinese market - but have to sell the end products at a certain price to meet with price competitions so they don’t lose their wholesale buyers.
30) My friend from Scotland came here to find a partner in Mongolia to help him buy quality dehaired cashmere, but he said out of 28 dehairers there were only 2 that could work with him as he had problems with the majority of their dehairing equipment, poor sorting of fibre, insufficient focus on quality, contamination by coloured fibres or coarse fibres and inability to meet his specification on length and thickness. The two he is talking about where Chinese dehairers in Mongolia. I was confused with his findings. Mongolian dehairing industry is that bad?
This is exactly my point, because until last year, dehaired cashmere was tax free. So foreign buyers would buy cashmere, wash them and export it without dehairing the cashmere. By dehairing, you are increasing employment, and improving the overall dehairing facilities in Mongolia. Chinese buyers can easily build more dehairing facilities in Mongolia if they see that they will pay more VAT by not dehairing them. If we add taxes to dehaired cashmere now, we hope the spinning industry will flourish by attracting more investments into the spinning industry.
Regarding the quality of cashmere, it is best not to mix cashmere from different provinces with different microns to avoid affecting the quality. I won’t say Mongolian cashmere is bad at all if you know where to source them. Because we can find 15.5-16.5 microns in Mongolia if you sourced from the right provinces. Less than 15.5 microns is very rare but you can also find them.
Siilen Cashmere uses a Japanese owned dehairing facility in Ulaanbaatar where the owners pay special attention to the dehairing process. I am sure he hasn’t checked out that place yet. We also buy our own cashmere. So we know where the cashmere comes from and if we see any insufficient quality during the sourcing process, we sell them back to the market.
“That (shocking) PETA video was made in China, not Mongolia. I have never seen goats in Mongolia bleed from combing. It could happen if you do it violently, but here in Mongolia - herders do love their animals. I believe our animals in Mongolia are the happiest. We do not cage them. We let them roam freely in the steppes. Our herders are helping the animals by dehairing the excess hair they no longer need in the summer. ”
31) Have you seen PETA article, which said: “Stop buying cashmere from China and Mongolia”? They claim Mongolian herders are as cruel as Chinese and we treat our animals badly - is this true? I thought maybe they were talking about Inner Mongolia in China, and not Mongolia? There was a video of goats bleeding.
They were talking about Inner Mongolia in China, not Mongolia. From my experience, I have never seen goats in Mongolia bleeding from combing. It could happen if you do it violently, but here in Mongolia - herders do love their animals. I believe our animals in Mongolia are the happiest. We do not cage them. We let them roam freely in the steppes. Our herders are helping the animals by dehairing the excess hair they no longer need in the summer. At least the suppliers we deal with are not abusive to the animals.
32) The article didn’t say Inner Mongolia, but simply Mongolia, so I had to make sure and know what kind of standards do you put on the wool and raw materials you are purchasing. Do you have any ethics code and standards you put out there?
We buy our raw materials from Mongolian herders only. They live in the countryside and they love their animals and nature. Mongolians do not cage their live stock animals. I mean the only abuse is probably when we kill them for their meat. If I was a goat, I would be the happiest in Mongolia (laughing). We support approximately 400 herders in Mongolia and I haven’t seen any cruel behavior from them towards their animals.
33) How sustainable is this industry though? Increase in goat population directly correlates positively to the increase in desertification in Mongolia, because goats eat grass with its roots, so the grass do not grow back. What are you thoughts on sustainable cashmere?
Yes, the Government of Mongolia should focus on NOT increasing the population of goats too much and put a limit on the headcounts of goats in Mongolia. We need to educate the herders to focus on the quality rather than quantity. For quality cashmere, factories are willing to pay more. Increasing the goat numbers, especially for low grade cashmere goats, is not going to help the ecosystem and the cashmere industry.
Let’s talk about the tax again. If we impose tax on the exported raw cashmere to foreign countries, then there will be less demand for raw cashmere as the overall prices would go up. We should also stop selling our cashmere so cheap. Mongolian factories need to focus on retail rather than business to business, because when you sell business to business, you will sell at very low price and the major market share goes to the middle man and the middle man makes the most money out of the whole chain.
At Siilen Cashmere, we only have 6 machines. If we produce for 24 hours at a full capacity, then we can produce 1,500- 2,000 products per month like sweatshops and fast fashion. In order to do so, we would need to buy approx 10 tons of raw cashmere. We could, but we are not doing that. We are buying only quality raw cashmere in smaller quantities and focusing a lot on the complex designs, which we sell it at higher prices.
34) We have this problem where Mongolians cannot buy raw products from the Mongolian herders, because the herders keep selling to the Chinese in advance. Chinese buyers would come, give the herders an advance payment and later collect the raw goods when they harvest, so basically Chinese get the best samples first. Do you have the same problem at Siilen?
Yes, it is true that they lend money, mostly before Mongolian Lunar New Year where the herders need the money most, but it is not an issue because we also give them advance payments. We do the same as they do.
35) What was the hardest thing when you were starting up in the cashmere industry? How did you overcome that obstacle?
Finding a wholesale buyer. When you don’t know how to sell, the best option is to find a wholesale buyer. I thought wholesale market was the best way to sell our cashmere but I found out to be wrong later on.
Also money! I found my investor from US when he was planning to invest into another cashmere company in Mongolia and he wanted some second opinions from independent parties to make sure the numbers were correct, so that’s where I came in. Within two days, I collected the latest data and researched all the related information to the cashmere industry by collecting raw cashmere prices and processing information. I collected all the information from dealers to factories, from Nalaikh to Emeelt areas. In addition, I gave him a comprehensive financial analysis and super nice presentation with skills I learnt at my ING bank.
He was super impressed with it and instead of investing into the other cashmere company, he decided to invest in me and within a month, I received investments enough to run my business, buy machines, purchase 8 tonnes of cashmere and pay factory running costs.
37) Wow, he invested in someone who had no track record. That’s so rare!
Yes. He was an experienced investor in the high tech but decided to go out of the way and invested in cashmere and to someone who never dealt with cashmere before. I needed at least 2 years to learn though (laughing). Cashmere was his only non-high tech investment he made.
“I believe my 3 years at ING bank helped me get my investment for my Siilen Cashmere. Whatever I learnt there, I used that skill to attract and get investments to my company.”
38) Would you agree that your finance background helped you attract your investment the most?
Yes, I believe my 3 years at ING bank helped me get my investment for my Siilen Cashmere. Whatever I learnt there, I used that skill to attract and get investments to my company.
I am in this fashion industry, because I had a background in finance. My finance major and finance background and experience really helped me raise money, attract investors, make sales overseas and understand the complicated payment systems.
39) It must be so much fun working in the fashion industry and meet amazing people. How often do you travel for work? Do you miss your finance and banking days?
Do you know I am also an investor to an Israeli R&D company called WizeDSP, which holds over 40 high tech patents? They will be listed on the New York Stock Exchange in about 6 months. I decided to invest in this particular company because of its patented acoustic sensors. iPhone has 3 acoustic sensors, Samsung - 5, and Amazon’s Echo - 7. A lot of technologies use acoustic sensors and it can also replace led sensors in the future. The best acoustic sensor in the world can sense 78 decibels. Ours have made a prototype sample of 98 decibels and is working to reach 107 decibels, which means you can talk on the phone when you are having a shower and the person on the phone can still hear you from your living room.
So what I am trying to say is that I am still working in the finance sector and not just raising money for Siilen Cashmere, but also investing myself into other businesses. The market value already increased 2.8 times since I invested, so I already made a good investment. We will see how the New York Stock Exchange listing goes.
40) Congratulations. Since you are traveling a lot and looking at how other countries run their business, what are your thoughts on the Mongolia’s competitive ranking in the world? We were ranked low again. How can Mongolia improve its competitive index?
Mongolians generally have lack of responsibility. They quit their job whenever they want. They come to work whenever they want. They take days off without giving a proper notice. They work as if they are on a holiday. It seems like they come to work if they have some free time. I had this experience at my factory. I also have trouble getting things done when I deal with state-run companies.
If we were more hardworking and responsible, and had more common sense, we wouldn’t be ranked this low. So the Government of Mongolia should start by focusing on education and ethics to develop more civilized citizens. Bombarding kids with only math and physics will not help a child understand that it is bad to litter on the streets. Schools and parents need to teach them all.
41) It is pretty easy to blame everything on Government though, so as an individual citizen how can we improve our competitiveness?
If we just invest more and improve our early and highschool education by teaching them more languages, skills, engineering, ethics, common sense, and teach them how to be a better citizen, and give them more opportunities to study overseas (i.e.: scholarships), then they would obviously become better citizens and make Mongolia more competitive. No matter how much money we give away to the poor, we cannot make them rich or improve their quality of life if they don’t know how to spend the money properly.
42) A common misconception about your work?
Cashmere products are old fashioned.
People do not really see it as a fashion piece. So far most of the cashmere products being sold in Mongolia are basics like regular v-necks, c-necks, cable knitted sweaters, leg warmers, plain scarves, etc. I am trying to show that cashmere can be fun, elegant and stylish. Creativity is endless.
“The Government of Mongolia should focus on NOT increasing the population of goats too much and put a limit on the headcounts of goats in Mongolia. We need to educate the herders to focus on the quality rather than quantity...
...We should also stop selling our cashmere so cheap. Mongolian factories need to focus on retail rather than business to business, because when you sell business to business, you will sell at very low price and the major market share goes to the middle man and the middle man makes the most money out of the whole chain. ”
43) Do you know many female CEOs like yourself in Mongolia?
In cashmere industry, many! Mongolian women have always been independent, and sometimes even breadwinners of their families. I see more and more female CEOs now, especially in the cashmere industry. Whenever I bring buyers to Mongolia who are interested in cashmere, they are always surprised at why all of the factory owners are female.
44) What are your thoughts on the #MeToo movement?
What’s a #MeToo movement?
45) Movement against sexual harassment and sexual assault at work. Never heard about it?
Oh yes, Harvey Weinstein! It is a problem in every country and I cannot say we have it less in Mongolia. I have experienced sexual harassment before when I worked for the hospital. But overall, I am a very straightforward person so if I sense something that is not pleasant to my feelings - I always make myself clear.
46) What are you most proud of?
I am proud of my kids! I am also proud of my parents and my husband. I am grateful that my parents who invested in my education, made sure I learnt English, etc. My father made sure I went to a good school and had a good education. My mother always told me that I am capable of doing anything I want and she always believed in me. If I hadn’t had my parents and the education I received from school and from them, I wouldn’t have worked at CitiBank or ING Bank. I wouldn’t have found my business partner. With that being said, I am also grateful to Hobby School for giving me good education in Mongolia. They have set the foundation of a young entrepreneur.
And last but not least my husband. I believe that a woman's success depends on a good husband. If our husbands are supportive, then we can succeed much more easily. Because I have a super supportive husband, I am able to do what I love doing.
47) You run Anand Adventures Tour Company, besides Siilen Cashmere. What is your role there? And how do you juggle it all with family and work?
The tour company is another business that I see, which will bring in hard currency to Mongolia. We do in-bound tours so we bring foreign tourists to Mongolia. We’ve met with the world’s second largest tour agent company this summer and we’re now working on finalizing our packages to bring in huge in-flow of tourists.
Of course managing multiple companies is not easy but it’s better than doing nothing (laughing).
“Best advice given to me was “Nothing is impossible” by Howard Lambert, my boss at ING Bank. He always used to tell me: “No is not an option. Find another solution.” His approach and attitude made me learn to find multiple ways to get things done. I’m not talking about corruption or bribing people, but about finding an alternative solution to reach our goal. ”
PERSONAL
48) How do you relax?
Hang out with friends. If I have free time, I like to drink green tea at Shangri-La Lobby, look at its beautiful ceiling and interiors, and hang out with friends there. It doesn’t have to be Shangri-La though, anywhere nice where I can enjoy the beautiful view, then I am all in. Of course, the tea has to be good also.
I often enjoy talking to people. I like to learn from them, and understand their perspectives and insights, which sometimes fascinates me.
49) Do you have any mentors? How did you pick them as mentors?
I would say my investor at Siilen Cashmere is my mentor. He taught me how to run my business. He knew that he was investing into a brand new company with a brand new CEO with zero experience of running a company.
50) What’s the best life advice that you’ve received? Who gave this advice?
“Nothing is impossible” by Howard Lambert, former Country Representative at ING Bank ⁰in Mongolia. He always used to tell me: “No is not an option. Find another solution.” His approach and attitude made me learn to find multiple ways to get things done. I’m not talking about corruption or bribing people, but about finding an alternative solution to reach our goal.
51) A personal advice you would like to extend to fellow Hobby Alumni?
Follow your passion. Whatever you do, have a passion for it and never take no for an answer. The world is round, so the opportunities are limitless. Think globally.
52) What are your good and bad habits?
Good - I get things done. If I decide that I want to do something, I do it. And I don’t like to take no for an answer.
Bad - I have a bad temper and I get frustrated when people are irresponsible and do not do their jobs properly.
53) Funniest story at work you can share with us?
On the first day I was hired by ING, I was asked to do a translation for a very important meeting with the State Property Committee of Mongolia. Howard, my boss, called me that day and said that I needed to do this translation because the Chairman of SPC doesn’t speak any English. It was my first translation ever and I completely ruined that meeting. Everytime I think about it I get goosebumps. In the end the State Property Committee’s Head of Administration did the translation for me because my translation was that bad (laughing). I have a fairly good English, but at that time I had no clue what they were talking about to one another.
54) If you can pass 1 law globally, what would it be?
Make Khulan the Queen of the Universe! So that I can make many more laws globally (laughing).
55) Now if you can fix 1 problem in Mongolia, what would it be?
Clean air for sure. I wish we could support renewable energy projects a little more. Another solution is to find low cost financing source to support people buy apartments without having the burden of paying too much interest rate.
After that, I am worried also about the water resource in Mongolia. I heard we are running out of fresh water in 40 years in UB!
56) If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be?
I would travel back to 2004 and tell myself to meet with Mark Zuckerberg and give him some money and buy some share in Facebook preferably 50%. He needed money at that time, so it would’ve been a very good investment (laughing).
57) Who would you recommend to interview next from Hobby Alumni? And Why?
I would like to recommend my classmate Samadi Batbold (#HobbyAlumni 2007), the Vice-President of Altai Holding, who is running the E-Mart stores in Mongolia. Samadi studied in London straight after Hobby.
“I see Siilen Cashmere in 20 years. When I started this business, I had my daughter in mind. My daughter’s name is Siilen and I named my company after her. When she grows up and finishes her university, hopefully she will take over this business, but only if she is into fashion and cashmere industry. I would like to see Siilen Cashmere as a peer amongst high end cashmere brands like Loro Piana. ”