Boots Made For Walking
Young entrepreneur Erdenebayar, aged 31, manufactures boots with the support of her husband Batbaatar and her daughter Uchral. She graduated from the Fashion Design Institute specialising in leather boot design and worked for a local manufacturer for ten years since she was student in Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia.
After meeting her husband Batbaatar, and with 13 years of sewing experience, they decided to come to Zuunkharaa (where Batbaatar is from) and start their own manufacturing business. One sewing machine and some small tools were the only things they started with. Since then they have been successfully running the business for the past five years and opened a boot store called “Chansaatai gutal” or “High Quality Boots” which is already well known in the area of Zuunkharaa.
Erdenebayar first heard of VisionFund from her friend and decided to take a loan of two million tugrik in April 2017 with a group of other people. She spent her loan purchasing materials such as leather and hides. “I received my loan just in two days and the requirement for documentation was not so difficult compared to banks. I’m glad that I took a group solidarity loan with people I know very well,” shares Erdenebayar.
She makes boots and shoes of leather including black chrome leather jack boots, office shoes, and sandals. Currently they have six employees and normally produce 10-20 pieces for special designed boots and 20-30 pieces for wholesale boots a day. Edernebayar and Batbaatar purchase their sewing materials costing around five million tugrik from local markets in the capital city which are imported from Russia, and they go once a week in winter and twice in summer.
The shop receives big orders from local companies, factories, and even dance ensembles. They have even got customers in distant provinces where she sends boots through public transportation. “I love sewing. Especially sewing with leather, it feels warm and very close to me. I never thought of giving up because I love what I’m doing, and it makes me happy” says Erdenebayar with a big smile on her face.
As her business started growing, she became able to invest more into her household needs and daughter’s studies. Last summer her daughter took a course in English language and swimming. She plans to expand her business by purchasing equipment such as sewing garment machine, boot sole making machine, more sewing machines to create more jobs in the future.