Our Founding Story
Tengri is the brainchild of Nancy Johnston, an Asian-American social entrepreneur with a penchant for travel and mountain adventures.
She became fascinated by the relationship between people, animals and the land while traveling in Mongolia.Nancy spent time living with a nomadic yak herder family. Many of their animals had died due to land desertification and climate change. The family was desperate to save money for their young daughter’s education and feared for their future.
Seeing an opportunity for the indigenous communities to profit from Noble Fibres, Nancy wrote the original Tengri business plan on the only paper to hand – a chocolate wrapper.
Back in London, Nancy founded Tengri by building a dynamic network of highly experienced experts in fibre and yarn technology, fabric production and sustainability to create a new standard of luxury.
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.
