Welcome to our blog. Here you will find the news on all that we are up to across this great and beautiful country...
growth - and development?
You may have read in the news recently that Mongolia is on the cusp of a significant economic boom, driven by the exploitation of its natural resources. In fact, that is already starting. But economic growth and development are not the same, and the growth that is happening is not bringing economic transformation. Last year, the Mongolian economy grew by 17.8%, and the trend is set to continue. And the number of cars filling the city's roads - increasing numbers of which are high-marque imports - is rising fast. Yet inflation went up by 10.2%, unemployment by 50%, over 30% of the people remain below the poverty line, and the population drift to Ulaanbaatar continues, with all the social and economic dislocation that entails. Corruption remains rampant. This is the situation that faces many in Mongolia today. For these reasons among others, the need for Seedtime to give families and communities a genuine uplift in life is likely to continue long into the future.
You can make a difference by helping us to make a difference. Contact us to find out more!
Seedtime Team Vision Meeting
The Seedtime Team recently had its New Year Dinner and Vision Meeting. The Board is currently in discussion about the future development and direction of Seedtime. Exciting times! More photos here.
Seedtime Christmas Campaign Extended!
Kick-start a business in Mongolia in 2012! That was our challenge for Christmas 2011. You can still donate to our Christmas Campaign right up to 31st January! Click here for more details!
a table in the wilderness
I and others in the team have passed through this area many times on our travels through the Gobi Desert. It could be the middle of nowhere, a place that the world has forgotten. Welcome to Tsogt-Ovoo, and another Seedtime business that is just getting into its stride. The pioneer here is Tsetsegjargal, the lady in the fade-off. The eagle-eyed will have noticed that she is also in the pictures in the call-out on the right. She has recently moved from Khurmen, where she and her business partner Tuya successfully pioneered a cafe, bakery and shower house. She came to start a new work in this remote settlement, while Tuya holds the fort back in Khurmen.
Finance from our local loan fund enabled her to start a bakery in this isolated settlement. This bakery, which is also attached to a church there, is well-placed to serve customers from far and wide, as Tsogt-Ovoo, for all its remoteness, is in fact on an 'express' bus route!
As another business gets under way, it's worth mentioning that each one represents a seed that could bring transformation at different levels to the communities they serve.
looking after the money...
80 students gathered today at Ulaanbaatar Global Leadership University for a seminar by yours truly on understanding and managing your personal and business finances. It's a huge issue in a country where the two are so easily confused. Several registered an interest in joining our business seminars early next year.
The openings continue…
Seedtime Christmas Campaign 2011 - Click here for more details and donate!
The Seedtime Christmas Campaign 2011
Kick-start a business in Mongolia in 2012! Yes, that's our challenge this Christmas. Help people like these to get into business in 2012, and so help to bring transformation to their local communities. Click here for more details!
One year ago…
...this business did not exist. But in the depths of what is now the Mongolian winter - don't be deceived by the lack of snow in the picture, it was -20C at the time - these folks are cooking up a storm in the heart of Ulaanbaatar.
Pictured left is Ariunzaya, with two of her staff counter-side. I called in on them on my way to the office yesterday, and got a hearty meal - on the house! When, after training, a business starts, that is cause for rejoicing. When such a business takes on staff, that is cause for something even greater.
Each new business, each new staff member taken on, represents at least one individual or family taking steps out of poverty. And that is without mentioning the skill-sets and confidence that they pick up on the way. I'm not given to displays of emotion, but even I was misty-eyed after that business call.
Through Seedtime's Christmas Campaign, you, your family, your church or your business can kick-start more of these enterprises into life in Mongolia in 2012.
yes we can!
"Yes we can!" That was the message that rang out from our just-finished seminars in Darkhan in north Mongolia. Mongolia is a country that for many decades - centuries even - has received the message, 'No you can't.' That message translated into a mentality that says in effect, 'No we can't,' and a culture of dependence on the outside world. That is what being a client state does to its population. You don't have to live here for very long before you realise just how heavily this sits on the people.
Setting up in business in such a context is a huge challenge for people here. But just as turning round the received message of the generations involves a change of mindset, so more and more people are rising to the challenge. Fourteen attended the Darkhan seminars, and eleven certificates were presented. That's eleven people with the vision, drive and acquired knowledge to make a difference. The seminars continued despite the first snow storm of the winter, which brought down power lines, cutting off electricity, water and heating across the city, resulting in some of the teaching having to be done by candlelight.
if only I knew...
"I have been a carpenter for 26 years, and if only I knew then what I now know from the seminars…" Testimony from one participant at this month's seminar series in Ulaanbaatar. This man - I'll call him Enkhmunkh - was commenting on the teaching we give about the very important distinction between businesses and charities. This is a distinction that is all too easily forgotten in cultures like this, where extended family and other obligations bear down on a business's operating funds, often leading to business collapses and continuing financial need. Testimony of this sort comes up again and again from our training.
Making the distinction, however, gives the business permission to be a business, and can ultimately enable it to become more charitable once it has got itself on a firm financial footing. What we say is in effect, 'Let your business discharge its own immediate obligations, and it will be in a better position to take care of the rest later.' We wait with anticipation to see where Enkhmunkh's learning will take him, his business and his family.
seedtime in the news!
The UB Post, Mongolia's leading English-language newspaper, recently ran an article by Seedtime about the mining boom here in Mongolia. Titled 'Total Profit,' the article asks a number of questions about the direction of this development, and to what extent the Mongolian people as a whole will benefit from it. You can download the full article here.
a new logo!
Soon, we will be saying goodbye to our current logo, and replacing it with not one, but two new ones, which we plan to use interchangeably, depending. Both carry the word 'Seedtime' in traditional vertical Mongolian script. The second deploys our strap line 'it's time.'
We trust that for many here, this will indeed be their time.
to darkhan!
Darkhan, Mongolia's second city (pop. 280,000) sees the next stage in Seedtime's network expansion as we get ready to conduct business seminars there at the beginning of October. Already the anticipation is building, as you can see from the picture line-up opposite. A variety of participants, including those who have never started a business and others who want to improve a business they already have, is expected. Check back here for further updates coming soon!
now serving in khurmen
The bread was delicious! That was my verdict on the output of the cafe/bakery in Khurmen, South Gobi, on our visit there this week. The cafe, begun three years ago after our first micro-business training in the Gobi, has seen significant growth. Finance from Seedtime's Loan Team enabled business partners Tuya and Tsegegjargal (second picture down, first and second from left) to buy the bakery next door to their cafe. In another business context you'd call this a vertical integration! Having received bakery training, the stage was set for the quality output from their ovens. Meanwhile Enkhmurun's* shop (7th from top) provides another outlet for the bakery's products. Staff have been taken on, and now they're getting ready for further expansion.
Tuya, who manages the bakery, has started another business in the heart of Khurmen: a communal shower (5th picture down)! To give you the context, no-one in this community of 1,700 had access to running water, never mind hot running water. All that has changed, thanks to the new shower facility.
expansion in nomgon
Meanwhile, across the desert in Nomgon, Tumenjargal's business continues to go from strength to strength. After training three years ago, Tumenjargal branched into traditional clothes and souvenirs. In 2010, she gained a contract to serve a local tourist camp. Now the business, which had previously been seasonal, is all-year round. Recently the local tourist office ordered 450,000 MNT* worth of stock. With the help of her son, and a new worker she is just about keeping up with demand. Again, the local church has been at the heart of the action.
Tumenjargal is one of our business trainers in South Gobi, teaching the materials and modelling good business through her business.
*about £220 or $360 - a phenomenal amount here.
south gobi loan team set for business
With the opening of a local Seedtime bank account in South Gobi, and adoption of our loan guidelines, our South Gobi Loan Team is now fully set up for business. Small loans here can really make the difference between a small business being just a dream and a small business that actually gets going. A loan of just £75 ($50) was all it took to start the Cafe / Bakery in Khurmen. Not much when you consider the result!
You can help start more businesses like this one. Head here to find out more!
the class of 2011
Well, the first crop of 2011 anyway! Congratulations to our first group of business trainees - from Eternal Love church, Ulaanbaatar. A variety of business ideas were represented here, and Belgee and I agreed that there was much potential among the seven who received their certificates.
A mother and daughter are planning to go into business together, and another planned to use her skills as a computer programmer by using the emerging internet here to set up an e-shop. Everyone who steps out in this way is making a leap of faith, with the potential to bring much blessing to their families and communities, as well as a whole new set of lessons to learn!
business trainers get training
Not content to rest after their training in July 2010, four business leaders in our network got together recently to give the basic business training to 40 people in Dalanzadgad, South Gobi Province. Congratulations to Dawa, Tsetsegjargal, Tumenjargal, and Altanchimeg (pictured right) on your remarkable achievement!
One need following this training is to increase the size of our loan facility there. So if you would like to contribute to this, please head here. Our loans there are managed by our local South Gobi Loan Team. More details here.
Thanks so much!
sain kimchi!
Ask a Korean what kimchi is, and he or she would probably register surprise that you had never heard of it. Ask a Mongolian about kimchi, and they would probably tell you about a traditional Korean food, which in its different varieties is now enjoyed here in Mongolia.
Ask Solongo what kimchi is, and she will probably tell you about Sain Kimchi (Сайн Кимчи or Good Kimchi), a business she started following our seminars in June. Her business makes and sells kimchi locally in Ulaanbaatar.
A full-time student, Solongo is not currently able to produce kimchi in sufficient quantities to meet the demand that her product seems to be generating. But she is considering employing another staff member to help meet this demand. And although her kimchi sales are not yet generating sufficient income to pay her rent, the money she does get is already enough to keep her in the daily necessities of food and other personal expenses. If you are ever in Ulaanbaatar, make sure you sample some Sain Kimchi. You will not be disappointed!
ready for winter!
Thanks to a generous gift through Radstock's Gifts of Hope campaign, three little ones in Ulaanbaatar's ger district received all the clothes they need to survive what is expected to be a difficult winter here. In fact, it is -23C as I write this, but the real chill is still up ahead.
In liaison with the relevant local government office, this family (pictured) was identified, the children measured up, and clothes purchased. Socks, hats, boots, coats and other warm items will see them through until spring returns in April next year.
Scroll down the page to see more pictures of the happy* recipients!
*They really are happy. It's just that for many here, having your photo taken is a serious business.
what does he get up to?
Some may wonder what Paul Williams, our Executive Director gets up to outside of Seedtime. Apart from Mongolian language study, Paul also teaches English at Mongolia International University in Ulaanbaatar two evenings per week.
A great need here, as Mongolia opens up to wider world, is for native-English speakers to assist students learning English, so that they can have a positive impact on the development on this beautiful and resource-rich country.
It is as a contribution to that bigger task that Paul can be found at MIU on most Wednesday and Friday evenings in term time.
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