Uuganbileg Erdene | Mongolia

Uuganbileg Erdene (Uugana) is currently General Manager of Munkh tal Co.Ltd - a broadacre farm in far eastern Mongolia. Her background in macroeconomics and development includes work across academia, government and international agencies.

As the head of Research and Consultancy Centre of Institute of Finance and Economics (Mongolia) she organized number of trainings for public servants and consultants and set up an International Master’s Degree Program in collaboration with Handong University (Korea) during 1999-2000.

Uugana has contributed to many projects at international agencies such as the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.  Under one of the projects she trained and supervised consultants from five Central Asian countries including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Uugana contributed to developing the Social Protection Index, the report was published by the Asian Development Bank in 2004.

In the last 13 years Uugana’s career changed dramatically. She is a proactive advocate for productivity and efficiency in agriculture. Uugana and her Australian partner manage a large cropping farm in Mongolia. They successfully introduced no-till farming technology first in far eastern Mongolia.

Previously, Mongolian farming system was based on old traditional technology which was damaging the soil and bankrupting farmers due to multiple tillage and high costs. Over the past decade, radical changes have been observed in the cropping sector thanks to the new system. Soil moisture is being conserved and better yields are being achieved. 

In 2001 Uugana received a Cambridge University Scholarship and obtained MPhil in Development Studies at the University of Cambridge. She has also studied in the Netherlands and Russia for her graduate and post graduate degrees.

In her earlier career, Uugana contributed to institutional development, capacity building and socio-economic analysis at policy making level in Mongolia and in development agencies.

Uugana is also an active member of Mongolian Farming Association and Dornod Association.

Uugana likes learning foreign languages and be able to communicate with different cultures. In addition to her native Mongolian language Uugana is able to converse in Russian and English however says she has many new words to learn in each.