Project news

Mongolia ratified the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 and has strengthened measures to guarantee the rights of persons with disabilities and promote their social participation. To realise them, the government developed legal systems, including the Law on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in Mongolia promulgated in 2016, which stipulates the rights of persons with disabilities. In 2017, the promotion of employment for persons with disabilities was set as a national goal. Aiming for more solid and continuous development, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection, Mongolia and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has implemented "Project for Promoting Employment of Persons with Disabilities in Mongolia" since 2021.

In this column, the project visits Mongolian companies promoting the employment of persons with disabilities, interviews the people concerned multilaterally and considers the realisation of employment that brings happiness to both persons with disabilities and the companies.

[CASE 2] Central Express CVS JSC, operator of CU convenience stores
"We value our pioneering company culture and embrace individual differences."

Ms Gunjidmaa (left), who has been working for four months, and Mr Munkh-Erdene, the shop's senior manager, who warmly supervises her

Expand on the "Seven Values"

CU, with its eye-catching bright green and purple pop corporate colors, is a leading convenience store operated by BGF Retail of South Korea, actively expanding into Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asian countries. CU has been operating in Mongolia since August 2018, signed a local master franchise agreement with Central Express CVS JSC (hereafter Central Express) and simultaneously opened six shops in the capital Ulaanbaatar. CU quickly gained the top market share in Mongolia. Even under the Covid-19 pandemic, CU has continuously expanded its shop network, reaching 220 shops by the end of April 2022. They plan to increase the shop network to 285 by the end of 2022.

Central Express, which is responsible for the company's development in Mongolia, is expanding its range of self-developed private brand (PB) products. The company is unstoppable, as it was listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange in November 2021. It boasts such a presence that anyone walking around central Ulaanbaatar for five minutes inevitably sees one or two CU shops. Furthermore, the company is keen to expand its business into the countryside in Mongolia.

CU is actively involved in employing persons with disabilities, with about 100 of its nearly 2,600 employees. While many companies hire persons with disabilities all at once to meet the legally mandated employment rate, the company does not advertise jobs specifically for persons with disabilities. Still, it has gradually increased its employment by selecting from among applicants who have seen general job offers or have been introduced by employees.

In addition, CU involves "open-mindedness" and "consideration for all" in its seven company mottos, organises various training courses and asks employees to be generous and accepting of persons' differences. To ensure a sustainable working environment, the company assigns employees to work as close to their homes as possible and adjusts their shifts flexibly to take weekdays off if they need to visit the hospital regularly. In particular, when assigning persons with disabilities, the company provides thorough consideration, such as compatibility with shop managers.

Joy found beyond tears

CU Barilga Shop, located in a residential area

One morning at the end of April, we visited the CU Barilga shop in a residential area about a 10-minute walk down the road between the Japanese, Bulgarian and Czech embassies. The shop has many young customers as there is an integrated school from primary to secondary school nearby.

Ms Gunjidmaa, who has been working in the shop since December 2021, has an intellectual disability. After receiving training at another shop, she was assigned to the Barilga shop closer to her home. She works four days a week sweeping floors, clearing empty containers left in the eat-in area and disinfecting tables. She is as innocent as a little girl when she bashfully says, "I like the mint candies best in the shop."

Ms Gunjidmaa wipes the table in the eat-in area, wearing a hair ornament bought by her beloved mother.

Born in South Gobi province, she moved with her parents and brother to Ulaanbaatar, where she attended a special school. However, she quit school in fifth grade after her mobile phone was stolen. Since then, she has spent her time cleaning houses in place of her mother, who works busily as a dentist, and looking after her unwell father. Recently, her father passed away, and she applied for a job at CU on her mother's advice.

As she does not have close friends, she used to be alone at home while her mother was at work, often bursting into tears when she recalled her father. However, such lonely times have decreased since she started working at the Barilga shop. She recently bought her first new iPhone with her money. Her next goal is to go on a cruise tour with her beloved mother. We asked, "Do you like your job?" she replied, "It's so much fun! I want to work forever," smiling naturally.

Fourth daughter

Mr Munkh-Erdene responsible for running the CU Barilaga shop

As she calls, Ms Gunjidmaa's trusted "big brother" is the senior manager, Mr Munkh-Erdene. He joined the company two years ago and is responsible for running the Barilga shop. After seven years of working and retiring from MobiCom, the Mongolian largest mobile operator, he decided to join the company because he frequently used CU in South Korea, where he had been on personal travel for six months.

Ms Gunjidmaa is the first person with disabilities employed at the Barilga shop. However, Mr Munkh-Erdene had seen persons with disabilities working in fast food restaurants such as Burger King before, so he was not surprised when the head office approached him to accept her. On the day she first came to the shop with her mother, the mother told him that she was 29 years old but had intelligence of about six or seven years old. As he is the father of three daughters, aged six to ten, he began to think: "I will treat her as my fourth daughter".

Ms Gunjidmaa smiles and says she enjoys her job.

At first, she could not follow the instructions to put the drinks on the shelves by colour correctly, and such tasks took extra time. However, Mr Munkh-Erdene, recalling conversations with his daughters at home, suggested tasks that would suit her and decided to ask her to tidy up and clean the eat-in area. With the understanding and co-operation of the staff, consideration is taken not to overstress Ms Gunjidmaa. For example, the shop is open from 8 am to 11 pm, but her shift is fixed from 11 am to 8 pm when there are relatively few customers. The younger staff members must have felt the warm consideration of Mr Munkh-Erdene. They continue to talk about their mother and give detailed reports on events at home, such as "we bought a new TV set yesterday", calling the innocent and sweet Ms Gunjidmaa their "little sister".

"Mother" of the factory that produces 330,000 meals a day

Central Express employs persons with disabilities in Central Foods, the factory produces packed meal, in addition to their convenience stores.

The Central Foods factory built in Khan Uul District produces 330,000 meals a day, including packed meals and rice balls (photo courtesy of CU).

Khonkhor District is located about an hour's drive from the city centre. It was only at the end of November 2020 that the CU lunchbox factory was completed in this area, a vast plain with no particular work opportunities. Taking a cue from the Korean system, 330,000 meals a day, about 80% of all sandwiches, side dishes and packed meals sold at each shop, excluding those manufactured on commission for restaurants and other customers, are produced here. In the strictly hygienically controlled production area, work proceeds fluidly, with clearly separated areas for each process, such as washing vegetables, processing meat, packed meals and moulding rice balls. Fifteen trucks depart from the plant every morning after 4.30 am, and deliveries are completed to all shops by 7 am at the latest.

Ms Bayarmaa, the plant manager, overseeing production and delivery (Photo courtesy of CU)

The plant manager, Ms Bayarmaa, is responsible for the whole production and delivery process. She joined the company three years ago after working for nearly ten years as a production engineer in a bakery. She was inspired by CU, a new trend convenience store in Mongolian society, where she could develop herself through the management of the goods' production.

Of the approximately 200 staff here, 10 are persons with disabilities. Staff with intellectual disability and speech and language impairment work in the warehouse sorting and cleaning, while those with hearing impairment clean meal packs. Ms Bayarmaa interviewed them individually and decided on their responsible tasks, considering their disability characteristics. Staff with short-term memory impairment can only retain memories for one day. Hence, the factory provides reasonable considerations, such as displaying diagrams on the walls depicting work procedures.

"I enjoy my job," says Ms Ochgerel

Born in Selenge Province and moved to Ulaanbaatar in 2003, Ms Ochgerel is blind in her left eye and has a mild intellectual disability. After studying production technology at Mongolian University of Science and Technology, she applied for a job offer at CU after hearing about the work from a trainer of an employment assistance programme in Bayangol District in 2020. Firstly, she commuted to a rented office near her home because the factory was still under construction. But now she wakes up at 5.30 am every morning and takes the factory shuttle bus for an hour and a half to get to work. She works tirelessly even during breaks, counting bread and answering incoming phone calls. When asked the reason, she replied with a smile: "I enjoy working with everyone."

A classmate from university days works in the same factory. They are still close friends

Ms Ochgerel trusts Ms Bayarmaa, whom she calls her "second mother", because Ms Bayarmaa cares about and encourages every employee. Whenever she feels tired or wants to quit, Ms Bayarmaa listens to her in her room and repeatedly urges her, saying, "You are an invaluable person to this company". Ms Bayarmaa expressed her belief that if we assess what each employee can and cannot do and assign them to the appropriate department, they can work well regardless of their disability. She said she would continue to provide suitable tasks for each individual.

Philosophy to be upheld

Ms Sevjee, Head of Human Resources, Central Express(Photo courtesy of CU)

Ms Sevjee, head of human resources, is responsible for recruiting employees for Central Express. Her academic major is management, holding an MBA from the University of Finance and Economics of Mongolia after studying at the University of Humanities. She became a permanent employee in 2019 after joining an intern at CU for two months.

At the time, CU was one year after landing in Mongolia and was expanding its shops with unimaginable speed. Ms Sevjee explained the reason she joined CU. "With traffic congestion in Ulaanbaatar getting worse every year and the stress of travelling increasing, I felt the appeal and potential of a convenience store where customers enjoy a coffee and use the toilet without going all the way to a restaurant or coffee shop".

Ms Sevjee has interviewed over 230 persons with disabilities, some of whom did not answer questions or had solid introverted tendencies. However, these experiences made her realise that trying to understand who they are is just as essential as interviewing any people.

She says that the shop managers' voices that the staff "work harder than I expected" and "are very diligent" make her happy and want to work even more challenging. As the company cannot employ every applicant, she believes that it is crucial to give each person hired a suitable job according to their characteristics, which will lead to them working wholeheartedly. In fact, three staff with disabilities have been promoted to shop managers as a result of their effort.

She had never worked with persons with disabilities before joining the company and is humble enough to repeatedly ask herself whether the choice is appropriate, reminding herself that she is the one who needs to be trained the most. With more than 200 shops and plans for franchising in the future, she strongly feels the importance of continuous contact and follows up with each shop to ensure the philosophy of CU. She is proactive in organising training for employees and producing online educational materials to promote their understanding of disability characteristics.

The social impact of proactively employing persons with disabilities by Central Express, which has brought a new culture of convenience stores to Mongolia and revolutionised everyday life, is immeasurable. It shall be interesting to see what opportunities they will create in the future through the "Job Coach Employment Support Service" provided by the Mongolian Government.

Company profile

Company name	Central Express
Business	Convenience store
Number of employees (total)	Approx. 2600 people
Number of employees (factory)	Approx. 290 people
Number of employees with disabilities (total)	Approx. 100 people (e.g., persons with cerebral palsy, hearing impairment, speech and language impairment)
Number of employees with disabilities (factory)	Approx. 12 people (as of May 2022) (persons with speech and language impairment, hearing impairment, intellectual disability)
Reasons for employment of persons with disabilities	Practice of the company philosophy "Seven Values"
Initiatives for employing persons with disabilities	Assigning employees a shop closer to home, improving training for employees, matching persons with disabilities with suitable tasks, matching persons with disabilities with appropriate shop managers, etc.

What is the "Job Coach Employment Support Service"?

The job coach employment support service is a specialised employment support service for persons with disabilities and companies through job coaches, which will be provided from June 2022 by the General Authority for the Development of Persons with Disabilities of Mongolia.

Through this service, hundreds of persons with disabilities are expected to be employed by companies annually. Meanwhile, companies that struggle to employ persons with disabilities must fulfil their social responsibility by paying the levy.