Eriko Yamaguchi, CEO, Motherhouse Company and Limited

─ You established by yourself a factory in Bangladesh, known as one of the poorest countries among developing countries. You manufactured bags of your own designing and sold them at the shops you founded, “Motherhouse”, and at department stores. You are getting a lot of attention as a young entrepreneur and a designer. Your activities in a developing country stem from your studies of development economics at SFC.

My first encounter with the theory of economic development in developing countries at Prof. Heizo Takenaka’s seminar has led me to what I do now. I had, however, gone through a lot of things in my life; I was a target of bullying in my childhood, was a delinquent student, and played judo enthusiastically during my industrial high school days. (Laughs) Even after having entered SFC through the Admission Office exam, I was obsessed with an inferiority complex because of my poor English and limited basic academic abilities or social knowledge. I had to spend so much time for preparation and review for the classes just to catch up with other students. In addition, I always had to think hard about how to live and what kind of job I should do to contribute to the world. I stayed at school until very late in the evening reading books of philosophy or sociology, thinking about myself and my future. Throughout the experience of being bullied and wrongdoing, I believed that a drastic educational reform was crucial. With this strong belief, I thought I should become a politician, so I worked as a secretary of a politician. However, the more I thought of education, the more I started to care about developing countries where children are not given enough educational opportunities. At SFC, there were a lot of brilliant students who want to be politicians and also are full of passion for education, so I thought they would do a better job for Japanese educational system. When I decided that I should leave the domestic matters to those excellent students, I encountered the study of development economics at the seminar of Prof. Takenaka.


─ Prof. Takenaka’s seminar is popular among students learning economy and finance, isn’t it?

I didn’t think I’d get in since it’s highly competitive, but luckily I was accepted. The interviewer was Daisuke Yamazaki (graduated from the Faculty of Policy Management in 2003), who was a senior playing the leadership role at the seminar, and now is the vice president of Motherhouse. Members of the seminar were very intelligent students aiming to work at Bank of Japan or foreign affiliated securities companies or investment banks. I was overwhelmed and even felt pain, not being able to speak up in the class. Students at the seminar made a presentation by turns, and on our presentation days, the graduates working at banks and securities company participated and they made severe and harsh comments. On the day of my presentation, I was very nervous, but I managed to make a presentation on a theme, “Relationship between economic disparity and economic development in developing countries” since I was very much into development economics. Unexpectedly, Prof. Takenaka gave me a warm comment, “It was very good. You put so much effort into it.” I was so much encouraged by his words. When you think of support for developing countries, what comes first into your mind will probably be financial support or volunteer activities by NGOs, but I think otherwise. I believe the most important is to change the economic structure of developing countries, rather than to give financial support which is uncertain to be provided for individuals in need. In other words, what matters is to develop a world-class industry. Thus, we are aiming to make and sell bags at Motherhouse - bags which are bought because they are cute and nice, not out of pity, such as “for a poor country” or “let’s buy it for poor people.” What we do is of a small scale, but I believe that we are making steady progress. The base of such idea comes from the development economics that I studied at Prof. Takenaka’s seminar.

─ You worked at an international agency, and then studied at a graduate school in Bangladesh for two years before founding the bag factory.

When I was a senior, I worked as a summer intern at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), which provides financial support for Latin America. I had been longing to work at an international organization, and enthusiastic to work for developing countries even though it was a short time period. However, I was discouraged to know the fact that many of the staff members had never been to developing countries. It seemed to me that they were not very interested in developing countries; rather, I got an impression that they were just manipulating numbers. I am sure there were passionate workers, but I unfortunately didn’t meet any of them at IDB. After having contemplated what I should do, I decided to go and do some field work, and I bought an air ticket for Bangladesh, which is one of the poorest countries in the world. I was surprised to see slums for the first time in my life and felt scared in the insecure neighborhood. I wondered what I could and should do and realized that I wouldn’t be able to grasp the essential part of the problem by staying just for a short time period. So, I decided to enter a graduate school in order to obtain an educational visa valid for two years. I didn’t learn much academically since they just made me learn the books by heart. I remember I desperately pondered what I should do every single night for two years in a small apartment alone. Then, I finally came up with an idea to energize industries; I established a factory to produce high-quality bags of jute made by local people. I was betrayed and deceived all the time and came near to giving up many times; however, I managed to come back to Japan with 160 bags. To sell those bags, I decided to start a company. I did a lot of part time jobs to earn capital funds, and asked Mr. Yamazaki, whom I mentioned before, for an investment, and finally founded Motherhouse. “Mother” comes from Mother Teresa, whom I respect. Mr. Yamazaki was working as an economist at Goldman Sachs at that time. He was a good adviser to me even after we graduated; he thought about economy from a macro perspective, and I thought from a micro perspective. Nobody around me supported my idea of going to a graduate school in Bangladesh or making bags, but he always encouraged me. We always talked at a family restaurant very late at night, because he was still working for Goldman Sachs after we founded the company together. Mr. Yamazaki is a wonderful business partner who has profound knowledge, a wide perspective, a passionate heart, and shares with me the idea that it is important to change the industrial structure for the development of developing countries.


─ What Motherhouse does is neither financial aid nor volunteer activities; it is a new business model to structurally strengthen the economy of developing countries. You are now making new bags of dhaka fabric from Nepal, which is your second target country.

After we started the business, a lot of factories in Bangladesh began producing jute bags, and some of the factories are making products for UNIQLO. I am very happy to feel that our efforts are finally bearing fruit. I wanted to produce bags made of dhaka fabric in Nepal, but because of political instability and lots of other problems, we import dhaka fabric from Nepal and make products in India (shifted production to Bangladesh in 2010). This is a part of sad realities of a developing country, but I am determined to try my best to keep sowing seeds for developing countries.


─ It is amazing that you make your dreams come true with so much energy, struggling and overcoming difficulties, which is beyond our common sense. Please give a message to Keio students.

Because of the present economic recession, so much negative information is all over and it might let you down. It is not so easy to find what you want to pursue in your life. Thus, if I may make a suggestion, I would say “Why not thoroughly, day and night, struggle to get an answer about yourself or what you should do. I was always thinking about my life, and searching for the way to connect myself with society. Motherhouse is really the answer to my questions. I have been able to move forward little by little by overcoming troubles that I faced because I felt responsible for my choices that I had made. It’s all right to have sleepless nights. They will become your power someday for sure. It is also important to feel happy about your success even if it is a small thing. The compliments from Prof. Takenaka on my presentation have led me where I stand now.

Graduated from the Faculty of Policy Management in 2004. While in school, worked as a secretary for a politician, a researcher at a consulting firm for developing countries, a summer intern at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). After graduating from Keio, completed the master’s program of the development studies at the graduate school of Bangladesh BRAC. In Bangladesh, founded a bag manufacturing factory and started a company, “Motherhouse”, to grow industry in developing countries. Her books, “The Naked Life” and “The Naked Life 2”, have been appealing many readers.