For most Mongolians, a June trip to Arkhangai is the perfect summer vacation. Therefore, I felt extremely lucky to visit the province for our evaluation. With green grass, fast flowing rivers, and forested hillsides, Arkhangai is the quintessential Mongolian postcard. While the scenery did not disappoint, the province is suffering from an extreme drought, which has decreased greenness, but the views were stunning for this former Gobi resident.
With such a beautiful landscape, many of our clients have started tour camps to attract the numerous tourists who visit the province each year. When conducting a case study, we traveled to a remote valley and met a business that placed several gers near a beautiful river bend, but did not offer the usual amenities of other camps. We were incredulous when the family claimed their net profit was 5000 USD per year. Apparently, the area has religious significance, which scares Mongolians herders from relocating their herds to the valley. But this aura has attracted a different crowd, who are mostly new-age practioners of Tibetan Buddhism. While in the magical valley, we met a longhaired and sun burned hippy family, who are originally from America, but have been residents of Katmandu Valley for several decades. Each summer they come to this beautiful location with numerous friends. In fact, they were the first guests of the season, as they were organizing for the arrival of thirty vegetarian yogis, who would congregate for three weeks of sunrise meditations at the base of the sacred mountain.
While meeting a functional commune in a remote Mongolian valley was extremely weird, visiting a church run bakery was equally strange. The company, which was named Abraham LLC, had built a factory, church, and ger compound on a hill overlooking the provincial capital, which served as a shining example for the rest of town. And just as Abraham would have wanted, the wood fired ovens supply the majority of Arkhangai’s bread demand. And recently they have expanded their sales points to neighboring provinces. Some of our clients struggle with human resource and labor problems when they expand their businesses, but Abraham LLC does not have these issues, as they employ homeless people and provide them shelter and food. Although I am generally suspicious of religious and missionary activity, this company appears to be locally initiated and it was satisfying to see the dividends of their hard work.
One of the goals of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of our micro lending programs. Contrary to other parts of the world, credit and small loans are readily available for herders and small entrepreneurs. In fact, a recent study stated that 76% of Mongolian nomadic herders have received a commercial loan. Although access to credit is not a problem, the effective use of financing is a major challenge. Most often these loans are used for cash smoothing or consumer purposes, as herders or households take loans during the lean winter months and make repayments in late spring or early summer, after they receive their cashmere sales. While these loans serve an important purpose, they do not increase sales income or allow accumulation of assets, which is widely claimed to be the benefit of micro finance. To the credit of Mercy Corps, their programs have put much attention toward proper business planning and subsequent monitoring, which keeps clients focused on building their businesses and finding new markets. While these activities are time consuming and appear to baby clients, the attention provides needed support for people who have no previous experience operating a business. After visits with some successful entities, I was amazed at what these families had accomplished over a three-year period.
With such a beautiful landscape, many of our clients have started tour camps to attract the numerous tourists who visit the province each year. When conducting a case study, we traveled to a remote valley and met a business that placed several gers near a beautiful river bend, but did not offer the usual amenities of other camps. We were incredulous when the family claimed their net profit was 5000 USD per year. Apparently, the area has religious significance, which scares Mongolians herders from relocating their herds to the valley. But this aura has attracted a different crowd, who are mostly new-age practioners of Tibetan Buddhism. While in the magical valley, we met a longhaired and sun burned hippy family, who are originally from America, but have been residents of Katmandu Valley for several decades. Each summer they come to this beautiful location with numerous friends. In fact, they were the first guests of the season, as they were organizing for the arrival of thirty vegetarian yogis, who would congregate for three weeks of sunrise meditations at the base of the sacred mountain.
While meeting a functional commune in a remote Mongolian valley was extremely weird, visiting a church run bakery was equally strange. The company, which was named Abraham LLC, had built a factory, church, and ger compound on a hill overlooking the provincial capital, which served as a shining example for the rest of town. And just as Abraham would have wanted, the wood fired ovens supply the majority of Arkhangai’s bread demand. And recently they have expanded their sales points to neighboring provinces. Some of our clients struggle with human resource and labor problems when they expand their businesses, but Abraham LLC does not have these issues, as they employ homeless people and provide them shelter and food. Although I am generally suspicious of religious and missionary activity, this company appears to be locally initiated and it was satisfying to see the dividends of their hard work.
One of the goals of the evaluation is to assess the effectiveness of our micro lending programs. Contrary to other parts of the world, credit and small loans are readily available for herders and small entrepreneurs. In fact, a recent study stated that 76% of Mongolian nomadic herders have received a commercial loan. Although access to credit is not a problem, the effective use of financing is a major challenge. Most often these loans are used for cash smoothing or consumer purposes, as herders or households take loans during the lean winter months and make repayments in late spring or early summer, after they receive their cashmere sales. While these loans serve an important purpose, they do not increase sales income or allow accumulation of assets, which is widely claimed to be the benefit of micro finance. To the credit of Mercy Corps, their programs have put much attention toward proper business planning and subsequent monitoring, which keeps clients focused on building their businesses and finding new markets. While these activities are time consuming and appear to baby clients, the attention provides needed support for people who have no previous experience operating a business. After visits with some successful entities, I was amazed at what these families had accomplished over a three-year period.
No comments:
Post a Comment