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D. Puntsagdulam
Founder
After 34 years in Mongolia's energy sector, Dorjpalam Puntsagdulam retired to find that nobody would hire her. A collapsed chicken farm and failed glove-making venture later, she discovered soapmaking on YouTube — and turned steppe ingredients into a family enterprise where daughters in Taiwan and Russia became her informal export network.
Dorjpalam Puntsagdulam (Д.Пунцагдулам) spent 34 years in Mongolia’s energy sector before discovering that retirement meant reinvention. After failed ventures in chicken farming and industrial glove-making, she taught herself cold-process soapmaking from YouTube and founded Uulen Brand, turning steppe ingredients into a family enterprise with 24 products on Mongolia’s largest marketplace.
From Retirement to Reinvention #
Puntsagdulam retired on “meritorious leave” — a Mongolian recognition of distinguished service — and turned to entrepreneurship from home. Her chicken farm collapsed when feed costs rose and dollar exchange fluctuations eroded margins. Sewing work gloves also stalled. Using YouTube tutorials and Google searches, she mastered the chemistry of cold-process and hot-process saponification.
In 2018, she began producing handmade soaps from traditional Mongolian ingredients — sheep tail fat, sea buckthorn oil, and ganga herb sourced from the steppe. She registered the business as Үүлэн брэнд ХХК (Uulen Brand LLC, “Cloud”) in January 2019.
A Family Enterprise #
Family support proved essential to the brand’s reach. One daughter, studying at National Taiwan University’s GMBA program, promoted the brand internationally and donated 100 organic soaps to NTU Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic. A second daughter, studying in Russia, sold soaps informally to friends abroad.
In April 2023, the company’s registered ownership transferred from Puntsagdulam to Dashzeveg Gantsetseg — a change that may signal a generational handoff within the family, though her current involvement remains unconfirmed.