– Rural small to medium sized businesses are contributing to the economic development of Mongolia –
Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia – Oyu Tolgoi has provided preferential rights for local suppliers and business entrepreneurs in the Umnugobi and cooperates on development of small to medium sized enterprises.
T.Bayarsaihan, VP for Regional and Social Development at Oyu Tolgoi LLC, said “Small-medium business entrepreneurs in Mongolia are an important part of sustainable economic development. The soft loan programme launched by Oyu Tolgoi allows small-medium business entrepreneurs the opportunity to develop and start their own businesses. On top of that, it allows the businesses to improve their competitiveness in non-mining markets and develop a long-term sustainable revenue source”.
Oyu Tolgoi began the ‘Goviin Shim’ programme aimed to support rural business entrepreneurs. Around 50 local business entrepreneurs participated in the programme with a 1.5 billion MNT fund available to expand business opportunities in the region.
B.Sarangerel, owner of a bakery in Bayan-Ovoo, was a successful participant in the ‘Goviin Shim’ programme. She said “participating in this programme, which aims to solve challenges faced by local businesses, our bakery was able to purchase a bread oven, electric flour mixer, manual mixer, frying oven, and cutting machine to increase our capital. Now we have our own work place and have improved our knowledge and skills. All this contributed to the success of our business”.
Oyu Tolgoi provides preferential rights for local suppliers who are participating in its procurement and supply activities and has purchased about 3 billion MNT worth of goods and services from over 200 business entrepreneurs in the Umnugobi in 2011.
About Oyu Tolgoi LLC (http://en.ot.mn/)
Oyu Tolgoi LLC is Mongolia's largest copper and gold mining company and is a strategic partnership between the Government of Mongolia (34 per cent stake), Ivanhoe Mines (66 per cent) and Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto is the major shareholder in Ivanhoe Mines and the manager of the Oyu Tolgoi project. In addition to dividends from its 34 per cent stake in Oyu Tolgoi, the Government of Mongolia will receive taxes and royalties.
Oyu Tolgoi, located in the Gobi desert in southern Mongolia, will be one of the largest and highest-grade copper and gold mines in the world. It is the largest project ever developed in Mongolia, requiring a capital investment for phase 1 of more than US$6 billion.
Oyu Tolgoi is committed to contributing to a sustainable future for Mongolia. At least 9 out of 10 employees will be Mongolian once the mine is in production and Oyu Tolgoi is investing US$58 million dollars (78 billion MNT) in training and education and an additional US$27 million dollars (36 billion MNT) in the Workforce Employment Project designed to help address the general skills shortage in Mongolia
Oyu Tolgoi's key priorities are the health and safety of employees, best-practice environmental management, contributing to sustainable communities and always doing business with integrity, for the benefit of all the project's shareholders and the people of Mongolia.
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