Our Founding Story
Tengri is the brainchild of Nancy Vong Johnston, an Asian-American social entrepreneur with a penchant for travel and mountain adventures.
Nancy was chasing a childhood dream when she spent time living with a nomadic yak herder family in Mongolia. Many of their animals had died because of land desertification and climate change. The family was trying to save money for their young daughter’s education and worried about what the future would bring.
The experience changed how Nancy saw the world and what sustainable living really meant. Seeing a way for indigenous communities to care for their animals and earn a living from sustainably sourced Noble Fibres, wrote the original Tengri business plan on the only paper to hand – a chocolate wrapper.
Back in London, Nancy founded Tengri, a social enterprise developed in partnership with nomadic herders, where she built a dynamic network of highly experienced experts in fibre and yarn technology, fabric production and sustainability to bring to market the first community-inclusive supply chain with the highest standard of sustainable sourcing for the luxury market.
Since the start of Tengri, Nancy has started working with British farmers to elevate wool and create Noble Yarns and a fair and equitable business to take natural and sustainable fibres to new markets. A humanitarian, environmentalist and wildlife activist, Nancy ensures every Tengri product is created to the highest standard, the ‘Tengri Way’, without compromising people, the environment or animals.
Under Nancy’s leadership, Tengri has received global recognition from Sustainia for the Top 100 Sustainable Business Solutions, supporting four UN Sustainable Development Goals. Tengri was the first UK company to take the UN Business for Biodiversity pledge.
Nancy is a member of the UK Business & Biodiversity Forum, which helps businesses to manage biodiversity impacts and risks in their supply chain – an issue at the heart of the way Tengri operates.
