Project news

【CASE 9】Ard Credit, aiming to provide financial services to everyone
“The organisation culture and constitution changed through internal and external reasonable considerations”

The arrival of Munkh-tur, with congenital visual impairment,
has provided a fresh breath of air to Ard Credit and the entire group.

Dreams fulfilled after overcoming interview trauma

Securities markets match investors who want to sell shares with investors who want to buy them. Securities firms underwrite individual orders to the securities market, which plays a vital role in forming fair prices.

Mongolia transitioned from a socialist to a presidential system in 1990. The securities market has dramatically developed since the new constitution came into force in 1992, and the country embarked on the road to democracy in both name and substance. One securities company with a particularly significant presence is Ard Credit NBFI (hereafter “Ard Credit”). The company, which is part of the Ard Financial Group, an investment company with a mission to develop leading Mongolian financial companies through investment in economic operators, has been providing loans, online payments and remittance services since its establishment in 2011. The company was listed on the Mongolian Stock Exchange in 2019 and has been working on speedy service provision, releasing a smartphone app to take advantage of the global boom in fintech and automating the screening process for consumer loans.

Munkh-tur works lively with his colleagues, using his knowledge of finance.

The company’s office is in a building facing Sukhbaatar Square in the city centre. Munkh-tur, who works in the department responsible for loans, one of the company’s core brokerage operations, has a congenital visual impairment. He is the first person with a disability to be a permanent employee at the company.

Born in Khutag-undur sum, Bulgan Province, Munkh-tur was interested in financial studies from an early age and studied economics after university. After graduation, he applied to several banks, dreaming of working in a bank, but was frustrated by the sarcastic comments he was always given at interviews, such as “If you can’t see, you can’t count money”.

For two years, from 2016, Munkh-tur studied computer skills at a vocational training centre run by the Mongolian National Federation of the Blind and started working at the call centre of the Social Insurance General Office. Nevertheless, he could not give up his dream and attended events for bankers on his days off. One day, Munkh-tur saw Gan-khuyag, President of Ard Financial Group, at a national conference of investors and spoke to him because he was interested in stocks and investments. However, the bitter memories he had experienced during his bank interview came back to him, and he could not say he wanted to work in the company.

However, a year or so later, in February 2019, Munkh-tur’s turning point came. He ventured to apply for a position as a hospitality employee at an Ard Credit affiliate and was hired. Despite his joy, he was anxious about whether he could work there. Thus, for the first week, he left took paid leave at the call centre and went to work for Ard Credit to return in case of need. In the end, his fears were unfounded, and it didn’t take him long to start showing his full potential.

Since 2020, Munkh-tur has finally been employed by Ard Credit, and he is now working lively with his colleagues, making the most of his knowledge of finance. He uses a screen reader installed at the company to send and receive emails and social networking services at will and keeps up to date with the latest developments in the stock market.

“Persons with disabilities tend to hesitate to take the first step because of their disability, even if they have a dream or a job they want to do. At the same time, companies are concerned about whether they can communicate with persons with disabilities. What is needed to promote the employment of persons with disabilities is appropriate and reasonable consideration to remove mutual fears and physical barriers caused by disabilities. I want both sides to face what they cannot do and why they cannot do it without fear,” he said enthusiastically, reflecting on his own experiences.

“The one who teaches me a new world”

Bars-bold says that Munkh-tur is “the one who teaches me a new world”.

Bars-bold, who works alongside Munkh-tur at his desk, respects him, calling him “brother Munkh”. Bars-bold studied business economics at university and worked for a bank after graduation. However, the bank did not perform well due to the Covid-19 pandemic, so he moved to Ard Credit in May 2021.

A few days after joining the company, Bars-bold arrived at work as usual and saw a man tapping on a keyboard in a seat that had been empty until the day before. That was how he met Munkh-tur, who had come to work after his leave. At the time, Bars-bold felt a little curious that the person did not look at him when he sat down next to him but did not pay much attention to it, thinking that he was probably busy.

Later, when he introduced himself again, he was surprised to realise that Munkh-tur was totally blind. However, as Bars-bold got to know his friendly side - Munkh-tur liked jokes and playing chess and Braille cards for persons with visual impairments out of his bag during his lunch break and invited her to play with him - and his positive attitude and strength to never complain or whine, Bars-bold became more and more fascinated by his personality. ‘Brother Munkh is kind, cool and a good brother. I have never been aware that he is with a disability.

Furthermore, for Bars-bold, who has never had contact with persons with disabilities before, Munkh-tur is “a person who shows him a new world”. For example, when Bars-bold saw Munkh-tur press the button for the destination floor in the lift without hesitation, he learnt for the first time that the buttons are engraved with Braille. Similarly, Bars-bold discovered that Munkh-tur sometimes snaps his fingers, not just out of habit but because he listens to how the sound echoes and reverberates and checks the room size. “Brother Munkh is full of admiration and amazement that there is such a way of life.

With the new realisations arose an awareness of the problem. One day, while out with Munkh-tur at an affiliate, Bars-bold saw Munkh-tur suddenly stop and, for the first time, noticed the Braille blocks on the footpath he usually walked on had been interrupted there. “It was very disappointing to see how difficult it is for persons with disabilities to walk in our city. I also felt ashamed to realise that I had never thought about such things until I met brother Munkh,” he recalls.

Furthermore, when Bars-bold called one of his clients to guide the loan repayment process, the person did not pick up on repeated calls, and instead, he received a message saying, “Please text me your message”. When he replied that he needed to call back as it was urgent, he received a reply stating that they could not answer the phone due to hearing impairment. He regretted not being considerate and attentive to the fact that some customers might be persons with disabilities. Since then, he has made a point of communicating politely via text.

Bars-bold reflected on the need to provide a service that is attentive to each individual’s situation, saying, “persons with disabilities may indeed have certain functional impairments, but I believe they have great talents that more than make up for them. Thanks to brother Munkh, I have come to think that way.”

Promoting reform in cooperation with external parties

Nomin-erdene, COO, is responsible for human resources and administration at Ard Credit.

Nomin-erdene, Chief Operating Officer (COO), is responsible for human resources and administration at Ard Credit. She arrived at the company after Munkh-tur was hired. She was not directly involved with him, but she had heard about him for some time.

According to Nomin-erdene, Munkh-tur was recruited in 2019 and was first posted to the call centre before being recruited to the head office for his work and excellence. There are currently four persons with disabilities, including Munkh-tur, working in the entire Ard Financial Group. They are a marketing manager with visual impairment working at the head office; an assistant with lower limb impairment; an insurance manager with visual impairment working at Ard Insurance; and Munkh-tur at Ard Credit. In addition, an athlete with disability aiming to compete in the Paralympics is employed as a contractual employee.

Nomin-erdene smiles with a manual produced as part of the “No One Left Behind project”.

The company’s efforts to create a more conducive working environment for persons with disabilities have commenced earnestly. As an example, Nomin-erdene cites cooperation with external organisations. For example, the company has been working with the Mongolian National Federation of the Blind to conduct work environment assessments and actively involving Ard Credit employees in external events and training to promote understanding of disability.

The company is also actively working with the Junior Chamber International of Mongolia (hereafter “JCI Central”). On a project called “No One Left Behind”, which was implemented in 2021 in collaboration with JCI Central and the Mongolian National Federation of the Blind, they developed a booklet on points and reasonable considerations for working with persons with disabilities. They plan to disseminate the information widely to the general public.

In addition, the company, together with JCI Central, has developed an application called “Ard App” and made its website (Ardholdings.com) accessible so that persons with disabilities can easily access financial information and check their situation at any time.

Furthermore, new trends are beginning to blow through the entire group. Ard Holdings has started to improve information accessibility in consideration of participants with disabilities, for example, by providing sign language interpreters at the annual investors’ meetings.

“Munkh-tur’s joining us has made us realise that consideration for persons with disabilities is not just something that needs to be addressed within the company, but equally for those outside the company. It is a matter of corporate image and branding. He has become a dream inspiration for young people in Mongolia, regardless of their disabilities. I feel that the company and the group are beginning to change its culture and constitution,” says Nomin-erdene. The company is determined to continue actively employing persons with disabilities.

Ard Credit has advanced its internal accessibility approach, actively incorporating the knowledge of external organisations, following the employment of persons with disabilities. At the same time, the company began to make reasonable accommodations for external stakeholders. The company’s case study shows how persons with disabilities working in a company can influence their colleagues, superiors and the organisation, leading to an improved corporate brand. If Ard Credit, which has many external stakeholders such as business partners and investors, further promotes the employment of persons with visual impairments in cooperation with DPUB2’s Job Coach Employment Support Service, it will undoubtedly boost understanding of disabilities in Mongolian society and increase momentum for employment of persons with disabilities.

Company profile

Company name	Ard Credit NBFI
Business	non-bank financial institution
Number of employees (entire group)	Approx. 300
Number of employees (Ard Credit)	Approx. 30
Number of employees with disabilities (entire group)	4 (visual impairments)
Number of employees with disabilities (Ard Credit)	1 (visual impairments)
Reasons for employment of persons with disabilities	・Following the growing international momentum for employing persons with disabilities, Ard Credit started hiring persons with visual impairments by expanding the range of jobs available to increase employee diversity.
Initiatives for employing persons with disabilities	・Improve the working environment for persons with disabilities through cooperation with external organisations (Mongolian National Federation of the Blind and the Junior Chamber International of Mongolia, JCI) ・Promote information accessibility within the company and to external stakeholders

【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.

【Contact details】
For more information on the job coach employment support service, please contact:
The General Authority for the Development of Persons with Disabilities
(Хөгжлийн бэрхшээлтэй хүний хөгжлийн ерөнхий газар)
info@gadpwd.gov.mn
Tel: 77073008, 77032222