Narka or Narangua Erdenebat has been working in the Mongolian marketing sector for 10 years across many industries, including the television sector, retail sector and mining sector. Narka joined Huawei in 2018 as the Head of Marketing for the Consumer Business Group in Mongolia.
You’ve got a very diverse and interesting career. You went from being a Tour Guide in 2009 to being a Head of Marketing in 2019. What made you decide on this career in marketing?
Thank you very much for seeing my career growth as an interesting road! I have worked in the marketing sector now for 10 years. My first job was a tour guide in a small tour agency in Mongolia. It was a seasonal job during my student years at University, which I could do because of my language skills. My major was in International Relations at the National University of Mongolia It was a great experience, as I was fulfilling 4 of my goals at the same time – improving my English, travelling to the most beautiful places in Mongolia, learning from and understanding other cultures, and earning money. My real career started in the summer of 2009, working in the media/television industry. In Mongolia, it was not easy for students to find a job right after graduation, especially in their graduated major. Luckily, I found a job immediately after my graduation however it was not directly connected with my graduated major.
Working at a media/television company was a very interesting way to start my marketing career in Mongolia. To be a marketer of TV, you need to be very creative, communicative and need to have a wide network. It was very challenging but it is something I was very passionate about.
During my time working in the Mongolian TV industry, I got another job offer from one of the biggest Mongolian companies, Tavan Bogd LLC, an imported consumer goods company. I have attracted to this new opportunity because of the change of pace and the chance to work in an entirely new industry. It was a great challenge, as all of the marketing activities were so different from what I used to do. This company was well developed in areas such as business planning, marketing research and sales channel management. This role left me with very deep knowledge of how to do B2C marketing, how to use consumer insights to improve marketing performance, and helped me develop strong marketing strategy skills.
The most recent role before I joined Huawei was Wagner Asia Equipment LLC, which is best known as the official Caterpillar brand distributor in Mongolia. I’ve had a diverse work history, with each role giving me great experience in different business sectors at some of the biggest and best brands in Mongolia. It’s helped shape me as the marketer I am today.
You’re now about 9 months into your new role as Head of Marketing for the Consumer Business Group at Huawei – what have you learned so far and is the job what you expected?
My first year working at Huawei has been such a fun journey! Not only is it a great environment to learn, working in Huawei is a completely different feeling from everything else I’ve done because of the huge consumer demand (for mobile products) and the intense pace of technology innovation. To win in this fast-growing market I need to be very creative, fast and sometimes even aggressive from the marketing side. Therefore it’s challenging and competitive with each day being different. It has taught me how to fall in love with my job deeply. It is my ideal job.
Huawei is quickly gaining on Apple and Samsung in the mobile category. What marketing plans do you have to promote Huawei’s mobile products to Mongolian consumers? How do you compete with these big players?
As per analyst data, in Q1 2019 Huawei became the second largest smartphone brand by shipments globally. It was also the fastest growing brand among the top 10. What has helped Huawei is the pace of its innovations. It was the first to introduce features like reverse wireless charging, on-board AI, advanced camera, and more. So, for sure with this much technology innovation from Huawei we hope to lead the Mongolian smartphone market in the very near future.
What Mongolian brands are doing great marketing and advertising work at the moment. Are there any campaigns that have inspired you?
A brand that I admire is Lendmn. It is Mongolia’s first and most well-known Fintech company. Within a very short time, they have really boomed in the Mongolian market. Right time, right place and the right product. From the marketing side, too their brand building was so professional and has touched the hearts and minds of Mongolian consumers. They have really communicated well with consumers. You can see excellent brand awareness results from their web page and now their market value is over USD $30 million.
Huawei is growing fast. What skills and experience do you look for as you build your marketing team?
For this, I always look for the best people in their profession that have great teamwork. One of the key advantages of Huawei is our integrated networking. Behind all great marketing campaigns, there is a big team working well together. In Huawei Mongolia or elsewhere around the world of Huawei, to run our campaigns successfully we always play as a team. There is no “me” only “we”.
If you weren’t in marketing, what else would you be doing, what is your dream job?
I guess if I had to choose, I’d be a photographer. Since my childhood, I was interested in the visual arts. Beautiful colour combinations, nature, human emotions and all beautiful things around the globe are so inspirational to me. I think that most good moments and beautiful things should be captured in photos. It is the only visual memory people can have in the later life, as they grow old. Being a photographer is also a very interesting but underrated profession. Many people think good moments just appear in front of their eyes. When in reality, behind each beautiful or touching photo there are years of training, lots of research and a great deal of skill required.
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