-You arrived in Mongolia five years ago. So the business community already knows you. But please introduce yourself to our readers.
-I was born in Japan, Osaka. I`m 45 years old. Osaka is the second largest area in Japan. My father was a tradesman in one of the largest trading company in Japan. Due to his business characteristic, he was transferred to different places for work. When I was 7 years old my family moved to Canada. There I stayed for 6.5 years. Then we came back to Japan, Tokyo.
I was a good boy, not a kind of bullying people, not so quiet, not so super active. I was basically following the rules quite strictly.
I have two younger brothers. One is one year younger than me. Another one is 5 years younger than me. My brothers are in Japan now. My first younger brother works in a life insurance company. Now he`s in Japan. Another one works for a research company. He does accounting. Seems they are happy. Actually, I don`t meet them frequently.
Mongolian families are very close. You meet your parents, and siblings a lot. My family, we don`t meet that often, maximum twice a year. I haven`t seen my first younger brother for more than 10 years. He lived in London, New York for a long time. But it`s ok as no sudden news means they should be doing fine.
-Did you grow up like friends with your younger brother?
-No we were always fighting. As the age was close, you compare yourself to your younger brother. He compares with me. His academic score was better than mine. Maybe I was jealous. Now we don`t step up into each other`s life as long as we know that we are ok. That`s good enough for me. He also may be thinking the same.
-Which occupation did you choose at Waseda University?
-My high school had a system where you can be escalated up to university. It was one of the affiliated schools of Waseda University. Once you enter this high school, roughly 85 percent of the graduates can enter university without an entrance exam. You keep certain grades, you get escalated up to university.
I did not apply to university. My high school was connected to the university. In Japan, some private universities have these kinds of systems. I was part of it. When I came back from Canada I chose a high school with an ice hockey club. Of course, there is an entrance exam for normal people in Japan. But it`s just an exam. You do not know that person`s personality. If your high school is connected or collaborated with universities, what happens is that high schools have the responsibility to send appropriate students. This person fits the environment, and culture of that university. The majority comes from entrance exams. Also, there is a portion of connected schools. I am lucky because entering the university is difficult in Japan. But graduating is easier compared to entering. I heard that in the USA, 50 percent of the students cannot graduate from their university.
-Waseda is the second best-known university in Japan. And three fields of the university are among the TOP 50 universities in the world. Can you tell us more about your university?
-At that time, I thought in order to join a company which you want, I should attend a good course. So I chose a School of Commerce. Waseda is a private university and was established more than 100 years ago. Some people recognize it as a good university in Japan. Globally, Japanese universities are not among the top, compared to Chinese and western universities. Waseda is a big university. It has 3-4 campuses. Per year graduating student number is 10 thousand. I`m from the School of Commerce and majored in insurance. We had 1200 students in the same grade.
Do you know Tomoko san? She does a honey business and is a very popular Japanese person in Mongolia. She`s from the same university and graduated the same year as me. She`s from a different school of the same university in a different campus. We have never met during our school period but had a chance to see her in Mongolia. It is such a small world you get a chance to meet a person with a common topic all around the world.
After I finished university and joined KDDI. Since then 23 years now. At that time, around 20-25 years ago in Japan, it was common to graduate from a large university to join a big company. Because some companies choose by university graduation. Actually, I wanted to be a diplomat. But it did not work for me.
-You arrived in Mongolia five years ago. So the business community already knows you. But please introduce yourself to our readers.
-I was born in Japan, Osaka. I`m 45 years old. Osaka is the second largest area in Japan. My father was a tradesman in one of the largest trading company in Japan. Due to his business characteristic, he was transferred to different places for work. When I was 7 years old my family moved to Canada. There I stayed for 6.5 years. Then we came back to Japan, Tokyo.
I was a good boy, not a kind of bullying people, not so quiet, not so super active. I was basically following the rules quite strictly.
I have two younger brothers. One is one year younger than me. Another one is 5 years younger than me. My brothers are in Japan now. My first younger brother works in a life insurance company. Now he`s in Japan. Another one works for a research company. He does accounting. Seems they are happy. Actually, I don`t meet them frequently.
Mongolian families are very close. You meet your parents, and siblings a lot. My family, we don`t meet that often, maximum twice a year. I haven`t seen my first younger brother for more than 10 years. He lived in London, New York for a long time. But it`s ok as no sudden news means they should be doing fine.
-Did you grow up like friends with your younger brother?
-No we were always fighting. As the age was close, you compare yourself to your younger brother. He compares with me. His academic score was better than mine. Maybe I was jealous. Now we don`t step up into each other`s life as long as we know that we are ok. That`s good enough for me. He also may be thinking the same.
-Which occupation did you choose at Waseda University?
-My high school had a system where you can be escalated up to university. It was one of the affiliated schools of Waseda University. Once you enter this high school, roughly 85 percent of the graduates can enter university without an entrance exam. You keep certain grades, you get escalated up to university.
I did not apply to university. My high school was connected to the university. In Japan, some private universities have these kinds of systems. I was part of it. When I came back from Canada I chose a high school with an ice hockey club. Of course, there is an entrance exam for normal people in Japan. But it`s just an exam. You do not know that person`s personality. If your high school is connected or collaborated with universities, what happens is that high schools have the responsibility to send appropriate students. This person fits the environment, and culture of that university. The majority comes from entrance exams. Also, there is a portion of connected schools. I am lucky because entering the university is difficult in Japan. But graduating is easier compared to entering. I heard that in the USA, 50 percent of the students cannot graduate from their university.
-Waseda is the second best-known university in Japan. And three fields of the university are among the TOP 50 universities in the world. Can you tell us more about your university?
-At that time, I thought in order to join a company which you want, I should attend a good course. So I chose a School of Commerce. Waseda is a private university and was established more than 100 years ago. Some people recognize it as a good university in Japan. Globally, Japanese universities are not among the top, compared to Chinese and western universities. Waseda is a big university. It has 3-4 campuses. Per year graduating student number is 10 thousand. I`m from the School of Commerce and majored in insurance. We had 1200 students in the same grade.
Do you know Tomoko san? She does a honey business and is a very popular Japanese person in Mongolia. She`s from the same university and graduated the same year as me. She`s from a different school of the same university in a different campus. We have never met during our school period but had a chance to see her in Mongolia. It is such a small world you get a chance to meet a person with a common topic all around the world.
After I finished university and joined KDDI. Since then 23 years now. At that time, around 20-25 years ago in Japan, it was common to graduate from a large university to join a big company. Because some companies choose by university graduation. Actually, I wanted to be a diplomat. But it did not work for me.
NOW I HAVE TO FOCUS ON MY NEW DUTY
NOW I HAVE TO FOCUS ON MY NEW DUTY
-Is your family here in Mongolia?
-No, unfortunately. I have a wife and two kids. One is a 13-year-old daughter, another one is a 10-year-old son. My daughter enrolled in a private secondary school which is the same with my situation. So we decided to maintain this environment for her so she can try to develop herself not just on the academic aspect but in other things she may get interested in her life. That`s why they decided to stay. It`s ok, communicating with them is not all a problem as there are many applications which enables communication even with the distance. Also, there is only 1-hour time difference which creates almost no stress for communication.
My family does not speak English at all. For them, it is hard to live in a country where the Japanese is not usable. For me, it is ok. I speak English, I also go to work during daytime. If they come here, maybe daytime they have nothing to do and are boring and may get stressed. So I thought it is better for them to stay in Japan. Before COVID, I used to visit Japan three times a year.
The last time I visited was last year December.
But now I have to focus on my new duty. Maybe it is not easy to go back to Japan to see my family as it used to be.
-It has been almost five years since you arrived in Mongolia. Which Mongolian word did you learn first?
-I think sain baina uu. Bayarlalaa was quite difficult to pronounce. When you study English, there are not many words with so many a`s. I have never practiced Russian. Sain baina uu (Hello in Mongolia) was somehow quite easy for me to pronounce.
I learned to say Bi mongol hel medehgui (I do not speak Mongolian). In the workplace, a lot of people I work with or meet, somehow speaks English which helps me on communication and makes lazy for me to learn Mongolian.
-I heard that you play hockey and golf. How many years have you been playing?
-I started playing hockey back in my childhood days living in Canada. After going back to Japan, I continued to play in junior and high school hockey clubs in Japan. But during university, I did not play hockey. I do not know, maybe I was tired or I wanted to spend my time on something totally different. Hockey unfortunately is not a major sport in Japan. Baseball and football are more famous in Japan not many people play ice hockey. So it was easier for me to get enrolled in the national competition, which was a good experience for me at that time. Competitiveness may have been lower compared to some countries where ice hockey is very popular. Sometimes I play hockey in UB. Some of my friends invite me to games, and practices and I really appreciate it.
I started golf after I started working. Golf is very difficult for me. For me, hitting something that moves seems easier to play. I have brought my equipment to Mongolia. There are several golf areas around UB. Mainly I play golf during summertime with my Japanese ex-pat friends.
-Did you come to Mongolia on your own initiative or were you appointed?
-Basically, I was appointed. Our shareholder is a KDDI which is a Japanese telecommunication company. In KDDI there is an HR scheme you submit that what do you want to do next in your business career after your current position. What is your ambition or wish? What kind of work do you want in the future? At that time I was working in a domesatic-related business. I did not have an opportunity to work in global business. I wrote that I want to work away from Japan as I was always wishing to work in overseas environment. I kept on expressing this for maybe 3-4 years. Then I was appointed. I think expressing your thought is very important to realize what you want to do.
When I was at the university, my father told me that I will not fit into a trading company. I didn’t exactly ask why but just I followed his advice since I respected him and decided to join the telecom company. Did I want to work in a telecom company? Not sure, honestly. As I mentioned, I grew up in Canada I was able to speak English more fluently than many of my Japanese friends. So I thought English was my advantage at that time. Also, I had an experience living outside of Japan.
I was thinking to apply for the job opportunity which had a chance to work abroad. That`s why I was considering being a diplomat. That did not work, so I applied for investment banks, firms, and insurance companies. In the end, somehow KDDI decided to take me and that’s where my business journey started.
-Is your family here in Mongolia?
-No, unfortunately. I have a wife and two kids. One is a 13-year-old daughter, another one is a 10-year-old son. My daughter enrolled in a private secondary school which is the same with my situation. So we decided to maintain this environment for her so she can try to develop herself not just on the academic aspect but in other things she may get interested in her life. That`s why they decided to stay. It`s ok, communicating with them is not all a problem as there are many applications which enables communication even with the distance. Also, there is only 1-hour time difference which creates almost no stress for communication.
My family does not speak English at all. For them, it is hard to live in a country where the Japanese is not usable. For me, it is ok. I speak English, I also go to work during daytime. If they come here, maybe daytime they have nothing to do and are boring and may get stressed. So I thought it is better for them to stay in Japan. Before COVID, I used to visit Japan three times a year.
The last time I visited was last year December.
But now I have to focus on my new duty. Maybe it is not easy to go back to Japan to see my family as it used to be.
-It has been almost five years since you arrived in Mongolia. Which Mongolian word did you learn first?
-I think sain baina uu. Bayarlalaa was quite difficult to pronounce. When you study English, there are not many words with so many a`s. I have never practiced Russian. Sain baina uu (Hello in Mongolia) was somehow quite easy for me to pronounce.
I learned to say Bi mongol hel medehgui (I do not speak Mongolian). In the workplace, a lot of people I work with or meet, somehow speaks English which helps me on communication and makes lazy for me to learn Mongolian.
-I heard that you play hockey and golf. How many years have you been playing?
-I started playing hockey back in my childhood days living in Canada. After going back to Japan, I continued to play in junior and high school hockey clubs in Japan. But during university, I did not play hockey. I do not know, maybe I was tired or I wanted to spend my time on something totally different. Hockey unfortunately is not a major sport in Japan. Baseball and football are more famous in Japan not many people play ice hockey. So it was easier for me to get enrolled in the national competition, which was a good experience for me at that time. Competitiveness may have been lower compared to some countries where ice hockey is very popular. Sometimes I play hockey in UB. Some of my friends invite me to games, and practices and I really appreciate it.
I started golf after I started working. Golf is very difficult for me. For me, hitting something that moves seems easier to play. I have brought my equipment to Mongolia. There are several golf areas around UB. Mainly I play golf during summertime with my Japanese ex-pat friends.
-Did you come to Mongolia on your own initiative or were you appointed?
-Basically, I was appointed. Our shareholder is a KDDI which is a Japanese telecommunication company. In KDDI there is an HR scheme you submit that what do you want to do next in your business career after your current position. What is your ambition or wish? What kind of work do you want in the future? At that time I was working in a domesatic-related business. I did not have an opportunity to work in global business. I wrote that I want to work away from Japan as I was always wishing to work in overseas environment. I kept on expressing this for maybe 3-4 years. Then I was appointed. I think expressing your thought is very important to realize what you want to do.
When I was at the university, my father told me that I will not fit into a trading company. I didn’t exactly ask why but just I followed his advice since I respected him and decided to join the telecom company. Did I want to work in a telecom company? Not sure, honestly. As I mentioned, I grew up in Canada I was able to speak English more fluently than many of my Japanese friends. So I thought English was my advantage at that time. Also, I had an experience living outside of Japan.
I was thinking to apply for the job opportunity which had a chance to work abroad. That`s why I was considering being a diplomat. That did not work, so I applied for investment banks, firms, and insurance companies. In the end, somehow KDDI decided to take me and that’s where my business journey started.
I WILL DO WHATEVER COMES TO ME, WHATEVER IS REQUESTED OF ME
I WILL DO WHATEVER COMES TO ME, WHATEVER IS REQUESTED OF ME
-You have been working in KDDI for 22 years. It is not so common in Mongolia to work in one company for such a lifetime.
-In 2000, I joined KDDI. Today many people establish their own businesses in Japan same as in Mongolia. 22 years ago my impression of the situation was different and at that time since I was not considering the challenge as now, I applied to get enrolled into an already established company.
In Japan usually, most people get enrolled in one company. They tend to stay until their retirement. That was very common in Japanese working tradition.
Of course, some people may say that they do not want to work in the current company anymore. I want to quit and work somewhere else. I wanted to join a company that has a bigger or more interesting business operation. In Japan, at that time we did not apply for a specific job position. You are accepted to enter that company. What kind of job will you do? It depends on HR. They appoint and train you also gain experience by your daily task. You need to work for a certain period and also show your performance and capability to achieve that. But what I felt when I look back was that after joining the company in an early age, I had an opportunity to experience quite many job roles. I was in sales, corporate strategy, merger and acquisition, new business development, and project management divisions.
I was rotated within the company a lot in the first 10 years of my career. Even in Japan, that is not very common. Because you want to train newly joined staff to become professional in that area. Of course, there are people who stay in the same position for longer time but usually people spend around 3 years before getting rotated. But my case, I don’t know why but I got rotated every year to different positions. I assume that was done by company decision.
In a positive way, that kept me very occupied to always experience new things and get stimulated. I had to learn many things in order to get accustomed to my new position. Because they expect me to perform as they transferred me to that position. You need to self-educate, you need to read many books and understand what is expected of you. It was quite time-consuming. You do not have time to think about switching jobs when you are busy and focused to perform in your work.
But of course, some people may decide to leave the company thinking they are not being treated properly or not being to do what they wanted or expected to do. Somehow I was not in a situation where the company treats me the in-proper way. Maybe initially, I did not have a clear view what to do in the future apart from working abroad. Having new experiences helped me to gain my experience and see new things from different angles.
After 10 years I started doing some marketing activities and started to work in the global business. Being able to experience many things in quite a quick frequency kept me occupied to think and review about myself. OK, I will do whatever comes to me, whatever is requested of me. And I will learn. From that experience, I was fortunately got promoted. Kept moving forward and that`s why I believe I am standing here today.
-Did you find it challenging?
-New position is always challenging. Because you do not have the experience. Maybe my philosophy is like this. Some people do not like challenges. Because right now you are doing good. Somebody says, do you want to rotate, do you want a new position? I think your boss is offering you something because he/she thinks that you can do it. Maybe you are not confident enough. Sometimes we do not want to take the challenge. Because you know that if you stay here today, you can do to at least the level you are performing today. You are comfortable. If you switch, from 0 you need to start and you are worried you cannot come up to the same level.
For me, I was not an expert anyways. Learning never ends. Whatever new tasks, new positions, and departments, I did not refuse. That helped me to gain experience in much quicker speed. Sometimes nobody wanted to get engaged with some specific project but I decided to challenge. For example, I was appointed to one project in which the company had a really hard financial situation. If we just left it as it was, the company may need to consider go bankrupt. If the company goes bankrupt, you will be responsible for it. But if you turn the company around and make it profitable, it can become your credit. So that credit part more attracted me rather than the challenge. I was able to make this company profitable with the team. These kinds of experience help me to keep my value and grow within the company to do what I believe. Going out of your comfort zone will help you to develop or grow yourself in the future.
-You have been working in KDDI for 22 years. It is not so common in Mongolia to work in one company for such a lifetime.
-In 2000, I joined KDDI. Today many people establish their own businesses in Japan same as in Mongolia. 22 years ago my impression of the situation was different and at that time since I was not considering the challenge as now, I applied to get enrolled into an already established company.
In Japan usually, most people get enrolled in one company. They tend to stay until their retirement. That was very common in Japanese working tradition.
Of course, some people may say that they do not want to work in the current company anymore. I want to quit and work somewhere else. I wanted to join a company that has a bigger or more interesting business operation. In Japan, at that time we did not apply for a specific job position. You are accepted to enter that company. What kind of job will you do? It depends on HR. They appoint and train you also gain experience by your daily task. You need to work for a certain period and also show your performance and capability to achieve that. But what I felt when I look back was that after joining the company in an early age, I had an opportunity to experience quite many job roles. I was in sales, corporate strategy, merger and acquisition, new business development, and project management divisions.
I was rotated within the company a lot in the first 10 years of my career. Even in Japan, that is not very common. Because you want to train newly joined staff to become professional in that area. Of course, there are people who stay in the same position for longer time but usually people spend around 3 years before getting rotated. But my case, I don’t know why but I got rotated every year to different positions. I assume that was done by company decision.
In a positive way, that kept me very occupied to always experience new things and get stimulated. I had to learn many things in order to get accustomed to my new position. Because they expect me to perform as they transferred me to that position. You need to self-educate, you need to read many books and understand what is expected of you. It was quite time-consuming. You do not have time to think about switching jobs when you are busy and focused to perform in your work.
But of course, some people may decide to leave the company thinking they are not being treated properly or not being to do what they wanted or expected to do. Somehow I was not in a situation where the company treats me the in-proper way. Maybe initially, I did not have a clear view what to do in the future apart from working abroad. Having new experiences helped me to gain my experience and see new things from different angles.
After 10 years I started doing some marketing activities and started to work in the global business. Being able to experience many things in quite a quick frequency kept me occupied to think and review about myself. OK, I will do whatever comes to me, whatever is requested of me. And I will learn. From that experience, I was fortunately got promoted. Kept moving forward and that`s why I believe I am standing here today.
-Did you find it challenging?
-New position is always challenging. Because you do not have the experience. Maybe my philosophy is like this. Some people do not like challenges. Because right now you are doing good. Somebody says, do you want to rotate, do you want a new position? I think your boss is offering you something because he/she thinks that you can do it. Maybe you are not confident enough. Sometimes we do not want to take the challenge. Because you know that if you stay here today, you can do to at least the level you are performing today. You are comfortable. If you switch, from 0 you need to start and you are worried you cannot come up to the same level.
For me, I was not an expert anyways. Learning never ends. Whatever new tasks, new positions, and departments, I did not refuse. That helped me to gain experience in much quicker speed. Sometimes nobody wanted to get engaged with some specific project but I decided to challenge. For example, I was appointed to one project in which the company had a really hard financial situation. If we just left it as it was, the company may need to consider go bankrupt. If the company goes bankrupt, you will be responsible for it. But if you turn the company around and make it profitable, it can become your credit. So that credit part more attracted me rather than the challenge. I was able to make this company profitable with the team. These kinds of experience help me to keep my value and grow within the company to do what I believe. Going out of your comfort zone will help you to develop or grow yourself in the future.
WE SHOULD USE OUR TEAM CAPABILITY TO PROVIDE VALUE TO OUR SOCIETY
WE SHOULD USE OUR TEAM CAPABILITY TO PROVIDE VALUE TO OUR SOCIETY
-Please share with us the pilot project results which you led successfully in Mongolia.
-I do not like to say it led is only by me. I was Chief Marketing Officer of Mobicom for the last 4 and half years. When I came, especially, the mobile market was very price competitive. Lots of Mobicom promotions were free of charge. Nothing is actually free of charge. Even if you buy a pen, there is a cost. You need to pay for the pen. But people felt that telecom services have no cost.
For example, data usage, and even voice calls. People do not feel the cost because you cannot physically see the service. Of course, there are lots of costs involved to provide the service. We need to set up coverage, towers, and antennas. We need to provide transmission connectivity. We also have human resource people who are looking after service. Not everyone recognizes that. I have a handset and a sim card and say that it should be free of charge or cheaper.
How to change that mentality was the first challenge that I had. Because once anybody used to use something for free they do not want to pay for it anymore. It is easy to decrease the price to make it cheaper. On the other hand, it is difficult to make anything more expensive. Market competition was very harsh. Even our competitors provided some services free of charge. Once we start doing that customers get too used to this environment. But as a company, we need some return from the customer to enable ourselves to invest more to provide better service and grow our business for future.
How to do that in a smooth way was challenging. Even some products are provided without any profit. If there is no profit how can we invest?
We changed all pricing policies, and pricing packages of pre-paid, hybrid services. We also launch My Mobi service which is now becoming standard. At that time value of services was not consistent. Was it really giving proper value to our customers and generating profit for Mobicom? This was something that I wanted to improve for last four years. Not just me, my team worked very hard on it to make it happen.
Also, Mobicom was really focusing on CSR activity and we had a project called WASH providing sanitary toilets to rural schools. But thanks to the Mongolian government, the government decided to take this project overusing the state budget. So our role has finished. Hope the Government will implement sanitary toilets throughout the nation soon.
Then we considered that there is still inequality existing in the market. People who do not have equal opportunity of education. What can we do? Then we started a project called Smart Education which started last year. It provides opportunities for some children to get engaged in online education. In Mongolia, a lot of families have multiple children. Usually, in a household, there is only one television. Parents may have a handset. But during the daytime maybe they need to go to work and they need to take their handset. So some children could not access educational content sufficiently.
The COVID situation may never end. In that case, what should we do? We are an information and technology company. Then we decided not just to build a toilet. We should use our company capability to provide value to our society and started this Smart Education project. We give children a handset, data access, and online content.
I think there are a lot of things that can be done in order to contribute to the development of Mongolian society.
-How do you choose the kids?
-Of course, there are some people who are in financial difficulty to buy themselves a handset. We think that our role is to support people who do not have this capability. We cooperate with partners to figure out which families really need to get enrolled in this project. We should try to mitigate this problem where the kids has passion to study but cannot just because of their family situation.
We chose families with limited income, also with multiple children. Also, the grade of the children is important. Last year we selected children in 4-7 grades. This year we selected 6-9 grades. Some criteria we did set to select the children as we could not provide this program to every single children. We asked the applicants to submit some essays or drawings. From there we selected. Also, there was one unique outcome through this process. Children get something rewarded for something they. I heard many of the stories were very touching and nice drawings as well. They made effort to submit that document and then some of them were selected and got rewarded. It seems that these children`s confidence level improved. If I do something, maybe I can be rewarded for what I do. We are very happy to know that we were able to help to change some children`s mindsets which we did not expect at the beginning. This program helped the children to be more proactive, to be more confident, in what they can really do. We are also continuing this project this year. Two years’ total budget of the program is over 1 billion tugrugs. I cannot say if it`s big or small. But even with this, we can only cover 3320 children through this program. I think there are more children who are in the same situation. So we hope that somehow we can continue this activity until we are able to reach all the children who have this need.
-In your opinion, which Mongolian companies are more successful in the marketing sector?
-Every company has its uniqueness. As you know, marketing is not just about advertisement. Marketing is about how to sell your goods, and products in an efficient way. In that sense, I little bit pay attention to CU, a convenience store. I do not watch TV so much. So I do not know how companies do TV advertisements.
What I felt was that CU is very aggressive on expanding its presence in UB. They established lots of stores throughout the city. Anywhere you walk, there is CU. So recognition of CU hugely grew in a short period of time. When you enter the store, they say “Nice to see you”. They are promoting their company name through greeting as well. Basically, people`s visual attention and hearing attention of this company tremendously increased right after it launched. The presence in the market and positioning in the market were established quite quickly. In that sense, I think their marketing was effective.
-Please share with us the pilot project results which you led successfully in Mongolia.
-I do not like to say it led is only by me. I was Chief Marketing Officer of Mobicom for the last 4 and half years. When I came, especially, the mobile market was very price competitive. Lots of Mobicom promotions were free of charge. Nothing is actually free of charge. Even if you buy a pen, there is a cost. You need to pay for the pen. But people felt that telecom services have no cost.
For example, data usage, and even voice calls. People do not feel the cost because you cannot physically see the service. Of course, there are lots of costs involved to provide the service. We need to set up coverage, towers, and antennas. We need to provide transmission connectivity. We also have human resource people who are looking after service. Not everyone recognizes that. I have a handset and a sim card and say that it should be free of charge or cheaper.
How to change that mentality was the first challenge that I had. Because once anybody used to use something for free they do not want to pay for it anymore. It is easy to decrease the price to make it cheaper. On the other hand, it is difficult to make anything more expensive. Market competition was very harsh. Even our competitors provided some services free of charge. Once we start doing that customers get too used to this environment. But as a company, we need some return from the customer to enable ourselves to invest more to provide better service and grow our business for future.
How to do that in a smooth way was challenging. Even some products are provided without any profit. If there is no profit how can we invest?
We changed all pricing policies, and pricing packages of pre-paid, hybrid services. We also launch My Mobi service which is now becoming standard. At that time value of services was not consistent. Was it really giving proper value to our customers and generating profit for Mobicom? This was something that I wanted to improve for last four years. Not just me, my team worked very hard on it to make it happen.
Also, Mobicom was really focusing on CSR activity and we had a project called WASH providing sanitary toilets to rural schools. But thanks to the Mongolian government, the government decided to take this project overusing the state budget. So our role has finished. Hope the Government will implement sanitary toilets throughout the nation soon.
Then we considered that there is still inequality existing in the market. People who do not have equal opportunity of education. What can we do? Then we started a project called Smart Education which started last year. It provides opportunities for some children to get engaged in online education. In Mongolia, a lot of families have multiple children. Usually, in a household, there is only one television. Parents may have a handset. But during the daytime maybe they need to go to work and they need to take their handset. So some children could not access educational content sufficiently.
The COVID situation may never end. In that case, what should we do? We are an information and technology company. Then we decided not just to build a toilet. We should use our company capability to provide value to our society and started this Smart Education project. We give children a handset, data access, and online content.
I think there are a lot of things that can be done in order to contribute to the development of Mongolian society.
-How do you choose the kids?
-Of course, there are some people who are in financial difficulty to buy themselves a handset. We think that our role is to support people who do not have this capability. We cooperate with partners to figure out which families really need to get enrolled in this project. We should try to mitigate this problem where the kids has passion to study but cannot just because of their family situation.
We chose families with limited income, also with multiple children. Also, the grade of the children is important. Last year we selected children in 4-7 grades. This year we selected 6-9 grades. Some criteria we did set to select the children as we could not provide this program to every single children. We asked the applicants to submit some essays or drawings. From there we selected. Also, there was one unique outcome through this process. Children get something rewarded for something they. I heard many of the stories were very touching and nice drawings as well. They made effort to submit that document and then some of them were selected and got rewarded. It seems that these children`s confidence level improved. If I do something, maybe I can be rewarded for what I do. We are very happy to know that we were able to help to change some children`s mindsets which we did not expect at the beginning. This program helped the children to be more proactive, to be more confident, in what they can really do. We are also continuing this project this year. Two years’ total budget of the program is over 1 billion tugrugs. I cannot say if it`s big or small. But even with this, we can only cover 3320 children through this program. I think there are more children who are in the same situation. So we hope that somehow we can continue this activity until we are able to reach all the children who have this need.
-In your opinion, which Mongolian companies are more successful in the marketing sector?
-Every company has its uniqueness. As you know, marketing is not just about advertisement. Marketing is about how to sell your goods, and products in an efficient way. In that sense, I little bit pay attention to CU, a convenience store. I do not watch TV so much. So I do not know how companies do TV advertisements.
What I felt was that CU is very aggressive on expanding its presence in UB. They established lots of stores throughout the city. Anywhere you walk, there is CU. So recognition of CU hugely grew in a short period of time. When you enter the store, they say “Nice to see you”. They are promoting their company name through greeting as well. Basically, people`s visual attention and hearing attention of this company tremendously increased right after it launched. The presence in the market and positioning in the market were established quite quickly. In that sense, I think their marketing was effective.
SO I NEED TO GO AROUND TO SEE OUR STAFF MORE
SO I NEED TO GO AROUND TO SEE OUR STAFF MORE
-VOO launched two years ago. How many clients use this application and TV streaming?
-VOO has three different types of products. The first one is a box, you can connect to any internet provider and you can watch VOO TV. There is also a mobile application called VOO. Some content you can watch for free.
Some content you need to subscribe. Including all these three, we have around 200 thousand customers. When you concern the population of Mongolia, about 15 percent of the population. We hope that we will still grow our customers. If they like they will maintain to use our service. In two years around 200 thousand are maybe not bad. But as I mentioned we have long ways to go.
-Mobicom expanded its activities in finance (Monpay app) and content production (VOO). Will you continue this policy? Will Mobicom enter into a new market or will you concentrate more on current services?
-In the short term, what I am looking into is that I should inherit things that the previous CEO had implemented to grow our business. One is Mobinet, another one is Mobifinance (Monpay). The business itself is growing. But is it complete? Unfortunately no.
My first short-term target is that how I can further contribute to the business growth of these two businesses we have last several years.
Second is that as I already worked for Mobicom for four and half years on the marketing side, I am more involved in the operation part of this company. Operational experience in Mobicom and now as a CEO, working and contributing to the company from a different level. But I think that there are lots of internal processes and operational efficiency that can be done to make the productivity of the company much higher not just focusing on the outside market to grow our capability. In the end, I want to make our company operation much smoother, much more efficient, and much more productive.
In the long-term what I want to consider is in a sense little bit started. I think the Mongolian IT level, IT skill is very high compared to even developed countries. For example, in Korea, Japan, the United States, China, and Russia, IT cost is high. Unfortunately, Mongolia’s domestic market is too small. There are many IT talented people who leave Mongolia and work abroad. Do they really need to go to other countries to work? Maybe we can use the existing capability, and skills to get business from overseas. IT benefit is borderless. No need for physical goods production, no need for factories.
Engineering skills and programming skills can be provided from and to anywhere in the world. I think Mongolian people would prefer to stay with their families closely. If we can create a business, we can export IT capabilities to abroad directly from Mongolia it can be workable. We can produce software and engineering support from here to other countries. It can enhance our capabilities much more. That`s why we want to explore business opportunities that we can get which will support foreign countries from the Mongolian side.
-Are you planning to connect Mongolian and Japanese companies?
-Definitely yes. We have started to work with our shareholder company.
We are still at the early baby stage. Right now we are working with the shareholders. In the future, I want to expand, not just to our parent company. We want to provide this to any other companies in the world.
-Is Mobicom preparing to shift into 5G network?
-Global trend is shifting into 5G. At this moment Mongolian side, the regulatory body is still trying to establish a policy of 5G. In order to provide the service, we need a license, and frequency. Frequency is a limited asset. Right now no license nor frequency has been allocated to any company.
We are closely monitoring the process and progress of the Government agency. We assume that maybe next year 5G will start in Mongolia. We are trying to prepare ourselves to be ready for that period. It depends on the Government agency schedule on allocation issues of license and frequency.
Fast data speed is of course good. Your data usage will be more convenient, and stress-free. But on the other hand consumption of data will increase because of the speed. I worry that maybe the customers recognize after usage and say my data has finished so fast. Fast speed is important. Is it the right timing for too fast speed? We need to acknowledge to the customers that fast speed will consume your data quickly.
-It happened when we shifted into 4G.
-Yes. Some people will say that previously it took 20 days to use my data. But now it is gone by 5 days, 10 days after changing from 3G to 4G and even more this will happen when we move to 5G. What`s going on? So not just providing the service. How to give proper information to customers to understand how new technology works? This is the role of the telecom companies to do.
-VOO launched two years ago. How many clients use this application and TV streaming?
-VOO has three different types of products. The first one is a box, you can connect to any internet provider and you can watch VOO TV. There is also a mobile application called VOO. Some content you can watch for free.
Some content you need to subscribe. Including all these three, we have around 200 thousand customers. When you concern the population of Mongolia, about 15 percent of the population. We hope that we will still grow our customers. If they like they will maintain to use our service. In two years around 200 thousand are maybe not bad. But as I mentioned we have long ways to go.
-Mobicom expanded its activities in finance (Monpay app) and content production (VOO). Will you continue this policy? Will Mobicom enter into a new market or will you concentrate more on current services?
-In the short term, what I am looking into is that I should inherit things that the previous CEO had implemented to grow our business. One is Mobinet, another one is Mobifinance (Monpay). The business itself is growing. But is it complete? Unfortunately no.
My first short-term target is that how I can further contribute to the business growth of these two businesses we have last several years.
Second is that as I already worked for Mobicom for four and half years on the marketing side, I am more involved in the operation part of this company. Operational experience in Mobicom and now as a CEO, working and contributing to the company from a different level. But I think that there are lots of internal processes and operational efficiency that can be done to make the productivity of the company much higher not just focusing on the outside market to grow our capability. In the end, I want to make our company operation much smoother, much more efficient, and much more productive.
In the long-term what I want to consider is in a sense little bit started. I think the Mongolian IT level, IT skill is very high compared to even developed countries. For example, in Korea, Japan, the United States, China, and Russia, IT cost is high. Unfortunately, Mongolia’s domestic market is too small. There are many IT talented people who leave Mongolia and work abroad. Do they really need to go to other countries to work? Maybe we can use the existing capability, and skills to get business from overseas. IT benefit is borderless. No need for physical goods production, no need for factories.
Engineering skills and programming skills can be provided from and to anywhere in the world. I think Mongolian people would prefer to stay with their families closely. If we can create a business, we can export IT capabilities to abroad directly from Mongolia it can be workable. We can produce software and engineering support from here to other countries. It can enhance our capabilities much more. That`s why we want to explore business opportunities that we can get which will support foreign countries from the Mongolian side.
-Are you planning to connect Mongolian and Japanese companies?
-Definitely yes. We have started to work with our shareholder company.
We are still at the early baby stage. Right now we are working with the shareholders. In the future, I want to expand, not just to our parent company. We want to provide this to any other companies in the world.
-Is Mobicom preparing to shift into 5G network?
-Global trend is shifting into 5G. At this moment Mongolian side, the regulatory body is still trying to establish a policy of 5G. In order to provide the service, we need a license, and frequency. Frequency is a limited asset. Right now no license nor frequency has been allocated to any company.
We are closely monitoring the process and progress of the Government agency. We assume that maybe next year 5G will start in Mongolia. We are trying to prepare ourselves to be ready for that period. It depends on the Government agency schedule on allocation issues of license and frequency.
Fast data speed is of course good. Your data usage will be more convenient, and stress-free. But on the other hand consumption of data will increase because of the speed. I worry that maybe the customers recognize after usage and say my data has finished so fast. Fast speed is important. Is it the right timing for too fast speed? We need to acknowledge to the customers that fast speed will consume your data quickly.
-It happened when we shifted into 4G.
-Yes. Some people will say that previously it took 20 days to use my data. But now it is gone by 5 days, 10 days after changing from 3G to 4G and even more this will happen when we move to 5G. What`s going on? So not just providing the service. How to give proper information to customers to understand how new technology works? This is the role of the telecom companies to do.
In that sense, we do not want to reflect this situation causing possible price increase to our customer as much as possible. Exchange rate impact, inflation sort of giving us damage our profit as well. Will this crisis end soon? Honestly difficult to say yes or no. Looking at the past history of the world, once this kind of conflict or war happens it is very difficult to recover in a short period. Maybe economic difficulties will last 1-2 years or even longer. We see the COVID outbreak again resuming, especially in the China side. Now COVID is becoming a more normal issue and will not finish very soon. With all these political conflicts, and the virus issue, situation expected to prolong for several years.
In that sense, we do not want to reflect this situation causing possible price increase to our customer as much as possible. Exchange rate impact, inflation sort of giving us damage our profit as well. Will this crisis end soon? Honestly difficult to say yes or no. Looking at the past history of the world, once this kind of conflict or war happens it is very difficult to recover in a short period. Maybe economic difficulties will last 1-2 years or even longer. We see the COVID outbreak again resuming, especially in the China side. Now COVID is becoming a more normal issue and will not finish very soon. With all these political conflicts, and the virus issue, situation expected to prolong for several years.
-This year`s economic situation in Mongolia will be not easy. Regarding this challenge what measures are you taking to provide stabilization in your business?
-Border does affect us to a certain extent. For example, if you are an importing company, you cannot even get the goods. Not exactly like that, but as I said, we provide service through network infrastructure. I mean with equipment: antennas, towers, base station. These need to be imported from abroad. There is no production in Mongolia. The border is closed, logistics are limited. We have delays in receiving the equipment which means that implementation delays, the timing to provide the service to the customers also delays. There is an impact.
Also, many customers use smartphone handsets. We have business cooperation with some major brands but also they do not have production here. The delivery and supply of these devices may get stuck because of the border issue. Our procurement team somehow trying to find a way to mitigate that.
Economic situation is very difficult to predict. Last several years the foreign exchange rate was quite stable. Thanks to the Government initiative and the financial sector`s effort. Tugrug/us.dollar was quite stable. Because of the recent crisis, the foreign exchange rate hugely depreciated. Maybe same as other trading companies our equipment also imported by us dollars or Chinese yuan which is also affecting our business.
-What do you think is the biggest strength of this company right now?
-I think business ethics and professionalism. There are lots of difficulties with the economic issues and competition. Mobicom team accepts this kind of external risk and somehow finds a way how to overcome the situation and sustain the company as well as to try to grow the company business. Business ethics and professionalism helping us to achieve this.
-What have been the biggest challenges you've faced so far?
-As I just became CEO recently everything is challenging for me so far. Now I am the CEO of the company. I need to oversee the whole situation of the company, not just marketing. There is a technical, and regulation aspects, of HR issues. How to be able to make timely judgment, and quick decision making in order to help and lead our team to move forward.
Of course, I try to make my decision as quickly as possible. Sometimes I am not familiar with that topic. I do not have enough information about that issue. I mean lacking in order to make perfect decision making, or giving direction and instruction. So I hope I can speed up on this and level up my decision making skills.
Another part is that maybe still not everybody knows about me. So I need to go around to see our staff more. I haven’t been able to communicate enough yet with our team after I became CEO. Once they see who I am, and what I am thinking, they will understand what I want to do and expect from them which may make some inspiration or motivation to staff is what I hope. I think it is important for the leader to pay attention to everybody as much as possible. The leader needs to guide the team. Would you rather follow a leader who you know or who you do not know?
If you do not know the leader or you do not know what the leader is thinking maybe difficult to follow. Because you hear something, but you do not know why he is saying so. You cannot have a clear image of the leader. If you know him, or say I met my CEO. He was saying this, that`s interesting, let`s do it. As a team, we can get more united. For me, it is important to see what everybody is doing. Because they support the operation and growth of the company.
-Thank you for your time.
-This year`s economic situation in Mongolia will be not easy. Regarding this challenge what measures are you taking to provide stabilization in your business?
-Border does affect us to a certain extent. For example, if you are an importing company, you cannot even get the goods. Not exactly like that, but as I said, we provide service through network infrastructure. I mean with equipment: antennas, towers, base station. These need to be imported from abroad. There is no production in Mongolia. The border is closed, logistics are limited. We have delays in receiving the equipment which means that implementation delays, the timing to provide the service to the customers also delays. There is an impact.
Also, many customers use smartphone handsets. We have business cooperation with some major brands but also they do not have production here. The delivery and supply of these devices may get stuck because of the border issue. Our procurement team somehow trying to find a way to mitigate that.
Economic situation is very difficult to predict. Last several years the foreign exchange rate was quite stable. Thanks to the Government initiative and the financial sector`s effort. Tugrug/us.dollar was quite stable. Because of the recent crisis, the foreign exchange rate hugely depreciated. Maybe same as other trading companies our equipment also imported by us dollars or Chinese yuan which is also affecting our business.
-What do you think is the biggest strength of this company right now?
-I think business ethics and professionalism. There are lots of difficulties with the economic issues and competition. Mobicom team accepts this kind of external risk and somehow finds a way how to overcome the situation and sustain the company as well as to try to grow the company business. Business ethics and professionalism helping us to achieve this.
-What have been the biggest challenges you've faced so far?
-As I just became CEO recently everything is challenging for me so far. Now I am the CEO of the company. I need to oversee the whole situation of the company, not just marketing. There is a technical, and regulation aspects, of HR issues. How to be able to make timely judgment, and quick decision making in order to help and lead our team to move forward.
Of course, I try to make my decision as quickly as possible. Sometimes I am not familiar with that topic. I do not have enough information about that issue. I mean lacking in order to make perfect decision making, or giving direction and instruction. So I hope I can speed up on this and level up my decision making skills.
Another part is that maybe still not everybody knows about me. So I need to go around to see our staff more. I haven’t been able to communicate enough yet with our team after I became CEO. Once they see who I am, and what I am thinking, they will understand what I want to do and expect from them which may make some inspiration or motivation to staff is what I hope. I think it is important for the leader to pay attention to everybody as much as possible. The leader needs to guide the team. Would you rather follow a leader who you know or who you do not know?
If you do not know the leader or you do not know what the leader is thinking maybe difficult to follow. Because you hear something, but you do not know why he is saying so. You cannot have a clear image of the leader. If you know him, or say I met my CEO. He was saying this, that`s interesting, let`s do it. As a team, we can get more united. For me, it is important to see what everybody is doing. Because they support the operation and growth of the company.
-Thank you for your time.