When I was based in Actiance’s headquarters in California, I used to say to folks that I was actually based on @United.com – because I spent a lot of time on the road for business. I was one of those folks you read about, the road warriors. I never checked bags, I could pack for a two week international trip in less than 10 minutes, my purse usually weighed more than my roll-a-board.
Here in Mongolia there’s a different type of Road Warrior, where the land that Chinggis Khan built with his warring, traveling hordes has spawned the new Mongolian Warrior. He’s to be found usually in a Russian built 4WD van, driving the roads, trails and sands for kilometre after dangerous kilometre, usually more than 50,000 kilometres in a year, over a land where only 9.7% of the distance he travels is on a paved road. You can read more about the new Mongolian adventures here – but do that later and stay with us as we’re talking nomads, social media and Global Banking in this blog.
The Mongolian’s are traditionally nomads, with one third of the 2.839 million (2013) population living in the capital, Ulaan Bataar and one third still classifying themselves as nomads, living off the land and on the land. The country is sparsely populated, and is twice the size of Texas. Once an empire stretching as far as Europe under Chinggis Khan, Mongolia is dominated by sparsely populated steppe and semi-desert, sandwiched between Russia and China. For me it was the next stop on the train after my trip through Russia). The country has a low gross national income of US $3,770, but an astonishing 117% of those of primary school age are enrolled at school (this percentage could also count both under and overage individuals). This is not an uneducated society.
It is also a very social society. In our trip we were welcomed into people’s homes (I’m specifically talking about those we hadn’t paid to stay in) – their Ger, food and drink was shared and for our driver and guide, stories, updates and news. When you call out “hold the dog” in Mongolia, you’re asking for and granted entrance to the home and the families hospitality.
That said, the country is vast (1,564,116 square km or (603,909 square miles) with very little infrastructure. Most “roads” are mere tracks and there are a total of 49,249 kilometres of “roads. Electricity is available in the major towns only, generators are used” elsewhere, or you wake and sleep with the sunrise and sunset. Even in towns, such as Dalangazad in the south, water is from a series of central taps for the suburbs and you take your 10 tugrik (or togrog) and fill your containers, for ALL your hydration needs.
This lack of infrastructure – more than likely accounts for the high levels of mobile phone and mobile data usage. There were 636,000 internet users by June 2012 (InternetWorldStats) and there are no official restrictions on web access. Nearly 3 million mobile cell lines were reported to be in used over the same time frame.
Facebook is a popular network in the country, claiming 494,280 accounts in November 2012, some 17.4% of the population, or 78% of the country’s Internet users.
Quantcast also tracked 15,088 accesses to LinkedIn during the month of July 2014 – (I can’t possibly comment as to how many of them were from me, but it certainly wasn’t thousands!)
The country has a very proactive banking sector – the Mongolian Stock Exchange was established in 1991 and became the world’s best performing stock exchange in 2010 after an increase of 121 percent. Individuals from the central banking regulatory commission are present on LinkedIn and there are 14 primary banks including The Bank of Mongolia, Khan Bank, Capital Bank and Chinggis Khan Bank.
The banks have in the main established a presence on the primary social networks and maintain a steady flow of content through the networks, although you’ll need access to Google translate to understand it!
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Also proactive is the Mongolian Bankers Association – (MBA) an independent, non-profit, non-government organization and a professional association, made up of banking and other financial institutions in Mongolia – instrumental in organizing Mongolia’s involvement in this year’s Global Money Week.
Held in March of this year, the event reached 10,000 Mongolian children individually and an estimated 500,000 through social media – particularly important in a country where 30% of the population are estimated to be under the age of 14. In order to promote and raise awareness on the importance of children and youth’s economic citizenship education, the MBA organized an online social media contest on Facebook which featured a variety of creative financial awareness themed submissions in the form of photos, comics, drawings and cartoons.
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Children also had the opportunity to speak with the Governor of the Bank of Mongolia and freely ask questions, they rang the stock exchange opening bell and involved banks even set up specific events for school dropouts.
In just one example of how the banking industry in Mongolia has embraced the geographically dispersed, mobile nature of their clients, Khan Bank launched a “Smart Phone Banking” application in June of this year which includes the ability to monitor accounts, check account statements, international and inland transactions as well as bill payment and a handy personal finance management tool.
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While Mongolia might not be the first place that springs to mind when you’re thinking about banking and social – there are several key elements that point towards a great future for the combination
1) a high percentage of literacy amongst the population and
2) that the population is nomadic in nature will drive the use of mobile and social tools in order to satisfy growing requirements.
From my perspective, it’s been a pleasure being a social nomad amongst the nomads, despite being disconnected from the Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter for 9 whole days during my excursions in this wild and wonderful country.
Guest blogger, social media guru, and citizen of the world Sarah Carter regulary shares her nomadic travel experiences and social insights here with our blog audience. To learn more about Sarah and her exciting travels, follow @SarahActiance on Twitter.
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