How we work
Many of our artisans hear of our company and simply turn up on our doorstep or at our shop in Ulaanbaatar to discuss becoming associated with us. We work gently through a selection process with artisans. We look at:
- Their skill levels and desire to use them at least in the short to medium term (1-2 years)
- Their registration as either a partnership, a cooperative or a company. Often individuals are working in the black economy, which does not exclude them from working with us it simply means that they have to obtain a tax book to work as aprivate individual.
- If they are selling their current products and at what kind of levels / prices
- Their expectation of prices they would want to sell to us at are they too high or too low
- Their capacity for making their products and who else is involved so we can see the way extended families or even registered organisations may employ their children in the business
- How willing they are to listen to new product possibilities or modification of current products based on our experience of the markets
As well as working with people already skilled, we link to NGO who support people who are among the poorest in our local community, living in gers or on the street or below the streets; folk who have been involved in degrading income generation activities or have no income at all. We support NGOs as they develop skills for people; we advise on products and how to calculate selling prices.