ONON Evans, Procurement Manager at Naran Mandal - Creating Social Value Through Responsible Gold Mining
Interview by Batzul Gerelsaikhan, Photos by Suniko.
Get to know Onon Evans (#HobbyAlumni2009), the Procurement Manager at Naran Mandal underground gold mining company. Onon is explaining how responsible gold mines can create positive impact and social value. Naran Mandal is the biggest employeer and tax payer in Bayankhongor province in Mongolia. Previously, Onon worked at Churchill’s Co. Ltd. and she is also the co-founder of Hobby School Alumni Association NGO. Fluent in English and Mongolian, Onon has a bachelor’s degree in Economics & Management from Aston University, the United Kingdom.
Full name: Onon Evans
Hobby Alumni: 2009 (years attended 1999, 2003-2005)
Higher Education: B.Sc. Economics & Management from Aston University, the UK
Languages: Mongolian, English
Sector(s): Mining, Food
Current Workplace: Naran Mandal Enterprises LLC
Past Workplaces: Churchill’s Co. Ltd.
Frequented Website: Thesaurus.com, Mongolbank.mn, Bolor-toli.mn
Current phone: Galaxy S9
3 Favorite Restaurants or Coffee shops in UB: Veranda, Namaste, World wine
3 Apps To Recommend: Shazam, UB Smart Bus, Mediahuman
3 Books To Recommend: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, The Eyre affair, Animal farm
3 Movies To Recommend: La La Land, Edward Scissorhands, Waking life
3 Songs You Are Listening To Most Right Now: Always never – Wylin, FKJ – 10 years ago, Elderbrook – Numb (chill mix)
EDUCATION
1) How many years have you studied at Hobby School and where have you studied before and/or after Hobby?
In total I studied for 3.5 years. I was at Hobby in my 1st year, but I transferred to Sant School for my 2-5th years. Then I came back to Hobby for my 5-7th year but transferred to the American School of Ulaanbaatar (ASU) for my final 8-12th years.
2) What kind of a student were you? What was your favorite class/subject and who was your favorite teacher?
I was a “bit of everything” student from F to A! My mom transferred me a lot, so I adjusted a lot. For instance, when I was at Sant, I was really bad at math and I used to get F, so she transferred me back to Hobby where I started liking math so much that I started getting As.
However, my favorite class at Hobby would be the Mongolian language class where I was taught grammar and I learnt how to spell correctly in my mother tongue. My favorite teacher would be the geography teacher Bryce who made us say “Life is not fair” before class started (instead of greeting him with the typical “Good morning, teacher”); and we all shared an obsession with chocolate and quite often we would make it part of the class (laughs).
3) Maybe Hobby gave you an easy-A?
No, Hobby was harsher than Sant. Our math teacher Amarjargal was really tough on us and I was scared of her so much that I studied harder (laughs). I really started to like math and soon realised I wasn’t too bad at it when I transferred and entered a different curriculum.
4) You were at 3 of the biggest private schools in Mongolia. How different were they from one another?
I cannot talk more about Sant, because I was small and all I remember was struggling at math.
“Hobby taught everything in both Mongolian and English, so kids had the chance to keep their mother tongue properly and learn subjects in dual languages at the same time.”
As for ASU, it was mainly in English and it was a brand-new school when I joined, so our class became the guinea pigs (laughs). They were new and inexperienced at the time, but they did give quite an emphasis on going abroad for higher education in our senior year, guiding us on university applications. I gave IELTS and SAT; I found math easier on SATs, but I struggled at writing and reading parts.
5) What’s your fondest memory at Hobby?
Talent shows! Everybody was enthusiastic about it and made so many efforts to win. Always had a blast doing them.
6) After graduating in 2011, where did you go?
I went straight to the UK to study at Aston University for my higher education for 4 years. I did “Industrial placement” for 1 year, so I came back to work in Mongolia and got some industrial experience. I worked as an intern at Churchills Co. in Ulaanbaatar and went back to the UK and graduated in 2015.
7) Why Aston University? What was Birmingham like for you?
It is actually funny, because when I was graduating high school my English stepfather thought that we would be paying “home student fee” since he adopted me officially, but we found out too late that he had to live in the UK for a minimum 10 years in order for me to be able to pay the local student fee at the university. By that realization, I had already applied to a few English universities and got my replies - 2 rejected me, 1 didn’t recognize ASU’s diploma as legit and I didn’t take the necessary tests in order to enrol, and the rest 2 accepted me.
“I picked Aston University, because it has a really good business school and it was located in the city centre of the second largest city in the UK - Birmingham. ”
Birmingham can be quite grey and gloomy, but once you know where to go and make friends, it can be full of life and bustling! I had an awesome time there. Made great life-long friends. It is definitely a place that I will never forget.
8) Did you get scholarships? Why Economics for your bachelor’s degree?
No scholarship. I studied Economics with Business Management because my relative #HobbyAlumni Gerelmaa Gerelsaikhan told me that once you finish Economics, you can study for Finance or any other fields easier. All my other relatives did Economics too, so it seemed right at that time and I really didn’t know what else to study for, to be honest.
When I started studying Economics, I realized that I wasn’t ready for it. Heavy statistics! At ASU, I had a choice of Calculus or Statistics, and I picked Calculus, so I didn’t even have basic knowledge on econometrics which I struggled with a lot (sad face).
9) Were you the first Mongolian student at Aston University?
I thought I was, but I wasn’t. I heard of a Mongolian guy that had just finished his master’s degree the year I enrolled.
10) Ever thought of doing your master’s?
Yes, of course. I was planning to study after working for a short while at Naran Mandal to get my Master’s degree, but my current work got too interesting to quit, so I stayed and here I am.
CAREER
11) What were your first paying jobs?
My first paying job was as a waitress at this French restaurant in Birmingham. My UK visa allowed me to work part-time and this job really helped me to come out of my shell.
“I was really shy at first, so my manager told me to be brave, go out there, smile and talk to people. I think this is where my communication and people skills started to develop. ”
I did some voluntary work when I was at ASU where I went to Cambodia. You can call it an international field trip where we went to this orphanage and helped them with planting trees and farm work. We also bought farm equipment for them. I was so happy that I went to Cambodia because we also had to opportunity to visit Angkor Wat and other cool places as tourists.
12) Didn’t you want to stay in the UK and work there after your graduation?
Yes, I tried. You can almost say that they were “formally” discriminating against me, because I am from Mongolia and I didn’t come from the EU. This meant they had to sponsor me and pay a lot to employ me in the UK. They only do this if you have a specific field or a minimum of a Master’s degree. I came back to Mongolia in 2016 and started applying for work in Ulaanbaatar instead. Hence I joined Naran Mandal in February of 2017.
13) How was the job search market for you in Mongolia? Why Naran Mandal?
I applied to a few. Some of the companies told me that they will hire and promote within their company instead of hiring externally. Some hadn’t called me back. When I signed my contract with Naran Mandal the others called me too late (laughs). The hiring process happened so fast with Naran Mandal, I was thrilled.
14) Did you ever think you would be working in a mining company? Please introduce Naran Mandal to those who do not know.
“I didn’t think I would be working in a mining company (laughs). Mining is one of the biggest industries and GDP contributors in Mongolia, so the growth opportunity is high and a good salary comes with it too. ”
Naran Mandal is an underground gold mining company and we are relatively still a young company with young and active professionals. Our employee’s average age is 32. Our work style is fast-paced, so we are always challenging one another at all times.
Our company underwent various changes over the past two and half years including rebranding itself completely. We have invested a lot on strengthening our social license in the local community, becoming more ‘approachable’ by locals e.g. to change our name to Naran Mandal (from Special Mines) and striving to become a responsible member of Bayankhongor community. We have a strong buy local hire local policy to create values in various ways in the host community.
15) Where in Bayankhongor province exactly? What is Bayankhongor like?
Bayankhongor has a population of over 88K people (2.86% of Mongolians) and more than 2.5K of them reside in Bayan-Ovoo soum. The climate in Bayankhongor is quite dry. It has a Gobi-like landscape. It is quite rocky, windy, and dusty. I don’t think it has that much trees as I’ve never seen one on my way to site from the province. It borders China as well.
Our mine is located less than 1 hour away (60km) from Bayankhongor province (mostly paved road), so it is really close to the population. It is 700km away from UB, so if we are lucky with the traffic, we can get to the mine site in around 8 hours by car. I always look at it like a fun road trip (chuckles).
We have about 410 staff as of September 2020 - of which majority are Bayankhongor residents and there are about 45 employees at the UB office. Majority of our underground personnel are from Bayankhongor. Within just few years, we have come a long way to do from nothing to ‘something’.
16) You are currently the Procurement Manager, but you started from the bottom as an intern, right?
Yes, there were two positions - administrative assistant or intern - and I decided to become an intern where I did so many different tasks along with translations for the company. I translated a lot of agreements where I learned how to create one. It was the perfect position for me at the time as it was my first ever full time job and I learned a lot. After 3 months I became part of their official staff as an administrative assistant. Then shortly after I shifted to the project team where I became a Project assistant and I mainly worked on contracts with service providers. I also started working on feasibility study and this opportunity gave me a great insight to how the mine operates. Afterwards I was promoted to Project Coordinator and this position helped me understand the details behind every job that is being executed at site.
“After working for almost 4 years at the company, I am now the Procurement Manager and I report to my project manager and CEO. I think this position is the most challenging one yet as it pushes me to the limits my previous positions never did.”
It is a completely new area for me but I am happy where I am right now as I am learning new things all the time, always self-developing but it can be a bit overwhelming sometimes especially with the problems our company had to deal with during the first half of the year. Not to mention Coronavirus - it isn’t helping at all!
Our investors are from the UK, and we have international management team - from New Zealand, USA, Ghana and Russia - leading the teams with experience and knowledge.
17) It is very impressive that (at only 27 years old) you are in charge of purchasing large and expensive underground mining equipment and supply materials for your company. What obstacles do you face at the moment?
“We buy so much underground equipment and supply materials from China, but I only speak in English and Mongolian.
My parents always told me to learn Mandarin, but I never did. I wish I paid more attention to them now that I am facing this linguistic limit in my workplace but that is where my team comes in. ”
Our procurement team has Mandarin and Russian speakers. It’s safe to say I am quite proud of our team.
I also found it quite challenging to understand the technical side of the whole operation at site. As you know we use a lot of foreign words to describe things that are not Mongolian made. So it was quite tough to understand what our engineers were describing when they have issues with certain equipment parts or the equipment as a whole.
18) What do you like most about your work in the mining industry?
“My colleagues really push and motivate me, so I’d say my team is the best thing about my work. ”
We are a very tight knit group of people. I don’t have any other work experience than this but I’m quite positive that I will never find a team like this.
I also like how we get to work on and off site. Working from an office and at the actual mine site are completely different and I get to do both of them each month. I love seeing the actual work being carried out at site, compared to what just a few words and numbers on a paper beforehand.
19) And the least?
Politics. I think it’s no secret that politics plays a big role in the mining industry in Mongolia, so it is very normal to face political issues throughout the life of this project.
20) Oyu Tolgoi does huge funding and CSR projects for their SouthGobi province. What kind of CSR and social impact high projects do you do in Bayankhongor province besides just mining?
We do a lot too in our province. For instance:
“At Bayankhongor, we invested in an on-the-go clinic where the doctors go to the locals and do health check-ups for the underprivileged. As you know, Mongolia is the world’s most sparsely populated country and nomads find it hard to travel long distances to visit doctors. These were extremely well received by the elderly and sick people who couldn’t travel at all.”
We also reconstructed and refurbished schools, classrooms and halls. We provide hay and build shed for the livestock for our locals every winter. We have built a modern, comprehensive well for herders and livestocks where they don’t usually have an access to water. We helped in building a wool factory for the soum. These are the ones I remember from the top of my head but there are plenty more. We have a strong External Relations team that ensures our local community and our relationship to them is taken care of. Also, our employees are very active to help and solve social issues voluntarily!
“I am proud to say that Naran Mandal became 2019’s biggest tax payer from the Bayankhongor province in Mongolia and we received awards for that! Our tax contribution has significantly elevated the Bayankhongor province’s performance. Moreover, we are currently the biggest job provider in the province.”
21) Are you based on roster? How often do you travel to Bayankhongor?
Im not on roster. I basically go when necessary but every month I go for 3-4 days at the end of each month to work on our monthly budget. If I’m overlooking a bigger project, then I’m based there for 3 weeks or so depending on the job at hand. I love visiting the site as it gives me some time away from the office, providing me with different scenery and environment. Sitting at an office desk for 9 hours every day for 20 days each month can be daunting. So that’s why I love making trips to the site. Plus, the site employees are also a very lively group of professionals and I like seeing them once a month at the least.
22) What are you working on right now?
“We just finished our plant expansion. We tripled our plant capacity with it but in order to keep up that load, we need to build additional crushing circuit. So I am overlooking the equipment ordering and commissioning for this additional crushing section. ”
We are also mining vein #1, and now we are moving into vein #10 as well. I am working on procuring a big hoist machine for that. There is a lot of underground and surface developments going on at site right now and I am helping in the budgeting and planning of such projects.
Thanks to Coronavirus, explosive materials have become scarce throughout the nation and it has become my top priority to ensure we find some no matter what to ensure our mine doesn’t stop because of it (sighs).
23) Now that you have worked for over 4 years in the mining industry, what are your personal thoughts on the Mongolian mining sector in general?
It is a sensitive topic as politics follows every mining company in Mongolia. If not done correctly, then it will be the doom of the whole nation.
“For the short period of working in this sector all I can say is that safety, careful planning and CSR plays key roles in mining. Without these it is basically impossible for a mining company to exist in Mongolia. ”
As of early 2020, the mining sector contributed 23% to the Mongolian GDP and economy. I just wish every other people saw these statistics and based their criticisms on facts, not rumours.
24) How many gold mining companies are there in Mongolia? What makes Naran Mandal special from the rest?
From the top of my head I can count 9, 10 companies but Naran Mandal stands out from the rest of them as we are a narrow vein gold mine. This means our ore body in the underground is very narrow and steep that it requires expertise to successfully and safely take out the ore. Such mines are very hard to operate as it demands professional knowledge and experience and this is where our management comes in. We also use cyanide leaching technique which makes us 1 of just a handful within the country.
Naran Mandal is also special because of the team behind it. I think our company has the best of both worlds - international management where they guide us on the correct path and the young, fully driven Mongolian workforce that makes it all happen. As you just learnt, our average age is quite young, and we only employ those who are willing to learn and achieve rather than those who look at their job as only a source of income. From what I saw, these kinds of people don’t last long with us anyway as they quit because we require them to be responsible and push them out of their comfort zone. They don’t like this and only those who are willing to strive stays with us. I think this becomes quite the benchmark for our personnel.
25) The Central Bank buys gold from you and all the gold mining companies in Mongolia. Can you explain the process for those who don’t know?
So we mine, separate the ore from the waste product, take the ore out, crush it, send it through a leaching circuit in the gold processing plant which uses cyanide. It basically turns the gold into liquid form by separating the gold from the rocks/ore body. Then several more chemical applications are made with different types of chemicals that I never heard of before I was in procurement. It kind of reminded me of a magical potion that needed special ingredients and spells to cook it up. Then we finally smelt it and get our gold dore.
“All extracted gold is sold to the Central Bank of Mongolia. The Central Bank is the only entity that is allowed to sell gold abroad, which they do.
The funny part is the amount of gold sold to the Central Bank rose quite dramatically just after the borders were shut due to Coronavirus and travel bans.”
26) How much would Central Bank buy your gold for, for instance?
We work with several of the big banks in Mongolia. We sell our product to them which they sell to the Central bank. The gold rate is determined by the Central bank which basically follows the London rate, maybe just 1 or 2 days behind. Right now the rate is 170k MNT per gram.
“Before Covid19, it was more than 135K MNT per gram. Now it is more than 170K MNT per gram. It has been immensely increasing since last year and we just recently reached an all time high.”
27) What’s your pureness of your gold?
I’m not sure because I think that might be confidential (laughs). Each time we sell, the pureness differs slightly which has to do with the gold processing it went through. Since we bought industrial smelting furnaces, our purity rose. It just shows how having the proper equipment for the job is crucial for mining industry.
Our gold bar is basically a gold dore which contains silver and gold. When we have it sampled to sell it to our corresponding bank, we get two results - silver and gold purity. We sell both depending on the rate the Central bank had stated on their daily rate for silver and gold.
28) How do ninjas sell gold in Mongolia? What do you think of ninja (aka artisanal) vs mechanized mining?
Ninjas sell to the Central Bank via a broker. I do not have any positive views on ninjas. Have you ever heard of good working ninjas who did well and contributed to the society back? (laughs).
“Ninjas are non-professional miners, so they often get hurt especially if it is underground mining. I’ve heard stories of ninjas having accidents and lose their lives in the artisanal mining holes they have created themselves, so it is a really sensitive subject.”
At Bayankhongor, ninjas have created this NGO and we have signed a contract with them. This made us the first company to sign a contract with ninjas (aka artisanal miners). We did this because the artisanal miners were already there when we arrived, so we had no choice but to work with them.
29) Mongolia has stopped issuing new exploration licenses, so there is less exploration revenue to the state budget. We have Covid-19 pandemic now on top. How is Covid-19 affecting the mining sector and Naran Mandal’s stakeholders?
I don’t think we had a direct impact straight after it became global, but now that some time has passed since the borders closed, we are definitely falling victim to this pandemic. All of our imports are lengthier and some of our local purchases have become scarce due to importing issues, so it is proving to be quite difficult to feed the company with necessary items to keep it going. Due to the scarceness the prices have risen. Our procurement team is having to work that much extra to ensure we are still making economic but correct decisions. It also taught us to plan well ahead to ensure no hiccups along the way.
30) There were two cases where your subcontractors got hurt at your mining site, so your operation stopped for awhile, right? What is going on right now?
Mongolian Authorities concluded that Naran Mandal did nothing wrong and had no fault. Both cases were regarding the blasting done by the subcontractor with faulty materials. Although we weren’t the cause of it, we were still held responsible to some degree because it happened on our licensed area. No one got hurt on the second incident though, but nevertheless our company still cared for those who were affected by these incidents. We changed our blasting contractor since then.
I think these incidents were a huge learning curve and a challenge for us as individuals as well as a company as a whole. However, we managed to soldier on and overcome it thanks to our amazing team. We didn’t let this incident define our future, but rather let it teach us on areas for improvement.
31) How is your relationship with Bayankhongor elected officials and mayor?
We’ve had our history, which may not have been too bright but we are always working on building this relationship and trust with the local government. You can say it is a work-in-progress.
32) A common misconception about your sector/job?
“Locals see us as thieves stealing their private land but they fail to see that when mining is done right, it is actually beneficial to the neighboring communities which involves them directly. ”
For instance, Naran Mandal is the biggest job creator and hence the biggest tax payer from Bayankhongor province! Mining is the main driving force behind our national GDP. This misconception has to do with some politics.
33) But majority of your employees are locals at Bayankhongor. Why are they still against mining?
Most of the time, people tend to possess wrong and/or incorrect information supplied by some on purpose.
“It is the era of fake news. Bad news spread faster than good news and we have personally seen the damage fake news can make in our mining industry.”
34) Since Naran Mandal is an underground mining, it is more complex and difficult than open-pit mining. How do you train locals to work in such a complex mining structure?
We have international professional staff. Our CEO Michael Fischer is a mining engineer himself with tons of knowledge and experience. Nation-wide, professional miners and blasting engineers are scarce in Mongolia. If we cannot find anyone locally, we hire from abroad.
35) Are your salaries competitive with OT’s?
I would say it is quite so. However, I don’t think it is correct to make comparison between Naran Mandal and OT, because we are just on different scopes. When we hire people from OT, they cannot align with our operations because our underground is completely different and requires more technical knowledge and experience because we operate hand-held tools on narrow veins whereas OT is quite automated. Bor-Undur is the closest mine to us with regard to the way they operate underground.
36) What’s Naran Mandal’s rehabilitation plan for the environment and society when you finish mining?
“Each mining project is required to have a big rehabilitation project once the project is finished. Our project is just getting started, so we have ongoing small rehabilitation plans such as planting trees and growing green parks within our camp and other areas each year. ”
Due to soil’s Gobi like features it can be quite a challenge but we do it every year. We have an experienced environmental team that ensures our operations have the least effect on its surrounding environment.
37) What taxes do gold mines pay to the Government?
We pay income tax, PIT, royalty and custom’s tax. We also pay a certain fee for receiving international services. Then there are the smaller fees we pay for water and land usage.
38) Does the Government of Mongolia help your company in any way?
Not much. A lot needs to be improved to support responsible mining. Issues do arise, for instance, from the dis-coordination and misalignment from the local and central government.
39) What kind of electricity source do you use? Do you buy from China? Also, what water resources do you use in Bayankhongor?
We have several diesel generators that are providing electricity throughout the whole mine site but the biggest we have is a CAT generator bought from Wagner Asia. It is feeding our gold processing plant right now, which takes up most of our electricity due to all the equipment. We do have plans to get connected to the central lines, but it is really far away, and it is part of our long-term plan. We are also looking into sustainable power systems like solar panels. However this will be a huge CAPEX project that needs more planning.
“We also recycle 80-90% of our used water in our processing plant. This efficient solution has made it possible for us to be economical and environmentally friendly. Especially in a Gobi-like place like Bayankhongor.”
40) Do you have any mentors?
“My mentor is our CEO Michael Fischer. As I am part of the project team, I report straight to our CEO. He is a leader by example and I’m sure I’m not the only one in the office when I say that I’m glad he is on our team”
Thanks to my English I am able to communicate directly with him to receive tasks and report the results. Whenever there is a problem, I let him know and I learn from how he plans to deal with it.
41) Where do you see Naran Mandal in 5 years?
Our company is growing with a fast pace. Even with the recent troubles we had, we still managed to bring ourselves up, dust ourselves down and move on. With this rate I would say at least a tripled number of employees and simultaneously working on 3-4 veins on our licensed area.
FUN QUESTIONS
42) May we ask if you are single or married? What are your thoughts on family planning in Mongolia?
I’m single and I would say that family planning is non-existent in Mongolia. Most people just seem to go with it and think of the consequence after the deed has been done. That completely terrifies me. There is nothing wrong with surprises and unplanned pregnancies if both parents are happy with it but I also think the baby’s point of view must also be considered before it has even been conceived, in terms of quality of life, etc. I have a dog and that is the closest to what I know of upbringing a baby and a dog itself is just a huge commitment for a family to make, let alone a human baby. I think it’s safe to say that my family planning will be quite tedious (laughs).
43) What are your good and bad habits?
I think the good habit would be that I try to write down every single task that I should do and/or remembered to do at the time it crossed my mind. I always make a list of things I need to buy, to do, to take, etc. I guess that ensures I am on track but I might be kind of useless without them. (laughs)
44) How do you relax? What’s your hobby or where can we find you when you are not working?
For some weird reason I become very relaxed when I’m in a car going somewhere and listening to my music. I also enjoy driving it too. It is almost therapeutic at times. I also enjoy being alone, maybe more than I should be. So if I’m not at work then you can easily find me at my home.
“I’m quite into rubik’s cubes, space studies, weird documentaries, sci-fi novels and movies. ”
45) When you were young, what did you want to be when you grow up?
When I was a kid I wanted to become so many different things depending on the age I was at but the most I wanted to be was a teacher. I remember I used to place my stuffed animals on my bed in several lines, just like how we would sit in the classroom, and I would be at the door which hung a small chalkboard, teaching what I learnt that day from school. I kind of admired my math teacher at the time I was studying in Sant school because she looked confident, a bit scary at times but was very soft with me when I had problems in class.
46) Now, where do you see yourself in 5-10 years?
When I first started working I was given the advice to never stay longer than 5 years in one company and that I should move onto the next and learn new things. My 5 years here are reaching soon but we are planning quite some exciting projects in the near future that I just want to be a part of, but if we are looking at 10 years from now then I might be abroad doing my masters or having graduated and possibly working there.
47) Who is your role model in Mongolia? A living person and why?
I don’t know much about Mongolian celebrities, so I don’t have a celebrity admiration but I do admire my mom though, Bolormaa Sarantsetseg. She is the rock of our family, which can be quite crazy sometimes. I also think she is the coolest mom ever. She is very strong, wise and yet so humble that I don’t think she even knows her full strength.
48) If you could compare yourself to another animal, what animal would you be?
This is a weird one because I am a huge dog person and the more I try to categorize my behaviors, the more I think I’m like a cat.
“I prioritize personal space in every relationship and I don’t like to be told what to do. I’d like to call myself independent but it might be stubbornness in other people’s eyes (laughs)”
49) What’s the best life advice that you’ve received? Who gave this advice?
Don’t work hard, work smart.
You’ll always have work, it will never finish so live a bit and enjoy life.
50) As a cofounder of HobbyAlumni.com, what advice would you like to extend to fellow Hobby Alumni.
I think mentorship is very underrated. There is so much to take out of that relationship from both parts. I never really realised how important it is to have a mentor at work, or just at life in general, because this means we can achieve our goals maybe twice as much faster just because we are learning from someone else’s experiences. So I would say mentorship is what Hobby Alumni should push forward more.
51) A personal advice you would like to extend to current Hobby students.
“Don’t be afraid. Don’t doubt yourself. Just get out and go for it. If you fail, it is not the end of the world. Always ensure to push yourself out of your comfort zone, that is how you know you are self developing.”
52) Funniest story at work you can share with us?
I had a meeting with two companies - one after the other on the same day. One meeting was based on our underground operations and the other was for our plant expansion work. As they were scheduled right after each other I just normally assumed they were going in order when my receptionist told me that the people for the meeting had arrived. So I grabbed some papers that showed the detailed layout of our underground, assuming it was that company which is our first meeting, and laid down the papers in front of him and started explaining the diagram in much detail. Surprisingly he didn’t stop me but my Project Manager, who was attending the meeting with me, gently tapped me on the shoulder and told me that I was in the wrong meeting showing the wrong papers. I looked up to the guy and he looked quite puzzled. Then I remembered his face and realised that this was the meeting for the plant expansion and he was here to look at plant drawings, not the underground layout. So I had to excuse myself out of the room and let them wait an embarrassing 2 minutes until I printed off the correct papers and come back into the room looking all serious and professional which was quite hard after such an event. (laughs)
53) If you can pass 1 law globally, what would it be?
I would say gender equality.
“There are several countries that enforce these kind of gender laws, but the gender discrimination doesn’t go away because we need to change people’s attitude to ensure this problem is solved from the root. Attitude is driven by knowledge and upbringing which is greatly affected by education also”
So I think the law I would pass will be on the education of the children where each child has its own unique profile that the teacher needs to teach to custom.
54) Now if you can fix 1 problem in Mongolia, what would it be?
Bribery because, well, everyone knows why. Also, at the same time, I think it is deeply connected to the quality of life which needs to improve to ensure bribery is not an option. This itself is just a huge challenge that requires so many changes so I will just stick with bribery as my main answer to this question.
55) If you could have dinner with anyone dead or alive who would it be, and why? Also, what would be your first question?
Steven Hawking, because he studied space and matters in outer space, including the black hole which I’m fascinated about. That’s why I started binge watching DARK series whenever I have the time.
Stephen Hawking is the pioneer behind space study and I am obsessed with everything about it. My first question would be “What do you think is on the other side of the blackhole” and would love to have an in-depth discussion about the high chance of aliens out in the universe. There’s so much we don’t know about the universe we live in and he helped to shed some light on only a drop of the whole ocean.
56) Name 3 conspiracy theories you believe in.
“Illuminati”, Parallel universes, and Aliens.
57) Who would you recommend interviewing next from Hobby Alumni? And Why?
Temulun Buuveibaatar (aka Bartender Tee Buuvei at Bharmoney) from class 2012. She is in completely different field of work and I think she even studied for it? She has an interesting and different type of story to tell compared to previous corporate alumni interviews.
“I never really realised how important it is to have a mentor at work, or just at life in general, because this means we can achieve our goals maybe twice as much faster just because we are learning from someone else’s experiences. So I would say mentorship is what Hobby Alumni should push forward more.”