Development of the processing horsehair into value added products for export to Europe and for local textile and musical instruments companies and also promotion of responsible leather tanning methods in Mongolia.

Endero B.V. together with Mrs Van Staden (Honorary Cultural Envoy of Mongolia and founder of Stichting Made in Mongolia) and local partner Sooton LLC will set up a new joint venture in Erdenet, Mongolia. This company will build a factory for the processing of horsehair. Mongolia is a major source of horsehair for a wide range of uses. However, today no value adding takes place in the country as unsorted horsehair is mostly exported to China for processing. The project aims to buy horsehair mainly from identified herder groups under fair-trade conditions and to cooperate with casing (intestines) and tanning (rawhides) companies in the joint sourcing of animal by-products, to have an important competitive edge in the sourcing of horsehair aside from cost savings. The cooperation with the tanneries will be further secured by a secondary component of the project which aims to promote responsible leather tanning by technical assistance to two reference tanneries. The joint venture will be supported by Stahl Holdings B.V., the producer of chemicals and dyes for leather processing.Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)The joint venture facility will be OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series) certified.Impact• Employment and working conditionsThe joint venture will pay living wages to all of its personnel. Staff will be employed on a fixed-term contract of at least twelve months, including a probationary period of two months. In accordance with the Mongolian Labour Law, both the employer and the employee shall be insured with social and health insurance. In addition, the joint venture will organise transport and child care for its workers who also will enjoy a free lunch at its canteen.• Innovation / Transfer of knowledgeThe project will create a new sector (processing horsehair).• Chain effectsImpact on local suppliersThe project will buy all its raw materials locally. To ensure fair-trade terms and conditions, the joint venture aims to source horsehair directly from herder groups and associations with which long-term relations will be established. By eliminating margins of middlemen, the income of the herders will be increased. About one hundred representatives of herders will receive training.Impact on local customers or consumersThe project will give a positive impact on local customers: bow makers, furniture textile companies as well as local artisans who add value to the washed and sorted horsehair. They will benefit from the possibility of sourcing their raw material from Mongolia instead of from China, thereby being assured of the origin as well as fair hair sourcing conditions.• Impact on the sectorThe project will create a new sector (processing horsehair) and will deliver a considerable amount of technical assistance to two large tanneries in Mongolia.