SME Survey in Mongolia - First Results The Respondents

Mongolia SME Observatory Results The following slides summarize the responses of 1511 SME interviews conducted by staff of the SME Department of the Ministry of Labor (now part of the Ministry of Industry) of Mongolia in September In the first stage of the interviews, we asked SME owners what type of legal form they had chosen for the business and whether they operate another business, in addition to that in respect of which they were being interviewed. We also asked them to identify the sector of the business they were interviewed about: we used the same classification as that of the National Statistics Office. As a further item, they identified the highest level of formal education received. This is needed to ensure that information provided by SMED to business owners and managers is pitched at the right level.

Mongolia SME Observatory Results Most of the SME owners interviewed were operating as sole proprietors (unincorporated business) or as a limited company, with relatively few opting for the other legal forms (for example, company limited by shares, cooperative or partnership). What was surprising was that two out of three of the SME owners interviewed had another business in addition to that in respect of which they were being interviewed. If this is generally true of SMEs in Mongolia, it means that the number of entrepreneurs engaged in SME activities is substantially smaller than the number of SMEs in Mongolia. This potentially smaller number for stakeholders needs to be factored into any measurement of demand for services to SMEs. In terms of educational background, the respondents were generally more highly educated than the average for Mongolia. However, this may in part reflect the fact that most interviews were conducted in aimag centers or nearby urban areas (it was difficult for interviewers to access more remote locations for this first exercise) and in fact many of those shown as having higher education (any thing beyond 18) had incomplete higher education.