Not your typical, little business trip
Chicago Tribune August 17, 2003
CRYSTAL LAKE -- In parts of Mongolia, things haven't changed much since Genghis Khan was in charge.
But the country is taking a modern tack in promoting its age-old cashmere industry with help from the U.S. government and a Crystal Lake man as the prime U.S. marketing honcho.
John Napoleoni, who grew up in Libertyville, became enchanted with the land of 2.5 million people while serving in the Peace Corps there during the early 1990s. He ended up teaching two years at the Economic College of Mongolia before working as plant manager for ForteCashmere in the capital, Ulan Bator, from 1996 to 2001.
Now, thanks to the U.S. Agency for International Development, Napoleoni serves as a business consultant promoting trade and U.S. business ventures in Mongolia.
A primary duty is being the guru of goat hair, developing "brand awareness" to dissuade Americans from buying cheaper woolens from the Middle East, he said. The Mongolian wool, he says, is the softest and most durable.
He takes six business trips a year to Mongolia, staying two weeks to a month at a time.
His producers are "nomadic herders. They're tough. They ride horses bareback and wrestle for recreation," he said.
As he made calls on herdsmen from 1996 to 2001 in the Gobi Desert, he learned the people were congenial and hospitable. As their guest, Napoleoni spent many nights next to dung-burning stoves in silk tents.
Despite the deprivation, "It gets to be like any other job, like a traveling salesman going to Cleveland or Detroit," he said. Except, "in the back country you cannot find many cars. And there's no electricity and no running water."
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