AAA CEMEXME v 13 for press.pmd - Cemex Philippines

12 CEMEX+ME 1st Half of 2004 /MANILA, PHILIPPINES
Out of the High Seas:
Eduardo Nuevo of Tensile Builders
It was love that brought Eduardo Nuevo out of
the high seas and closer to the ground.
He was a Geology graduate of the
University of the Philippines in
Diliman, when he received a scholarship
for graduate studies in Marine
Geology at the University of California
in San Diego. Passionate about his
field, Eduardo packed his bags and
headed to California—after all, it
wasn’t everyday that one got a scholarship
from the United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP)!
Excited about his studies, which
Eduardo said wasn’t really that difficult
“if you’re really interested in the field”,
the young Nuevo obtained his Master
of Science faster than his classmates.
His daily routine, he said, consisted of
eating breakfast “patago” (discreetly) in
the bus on the way to school, attending
his classes, going home to study, and
then doing his chores in between all
the schoolwork. It was a lonely life for
the young student, which was why he
frequently thought about going back
home. “Nalungkot ako `don (I felt
homesick there),” he recalls now.
He could have pursued a doctorate
degree after completing his masters,
but Eduardo wanted to go home and
marry his sweetheart. Upon his return
home, however, Eduardo realized that
there wasn’t any space in the Philippines
for a marine geologist of his
caliber and background. “Kitang-kita na
hindi prepared dito para gamitin ang mga
taong katulad ko (It was very evident
that the Philippines isn’t ready to take
advantage of the expertise of people
like myself),” he laments. “I felt the
lack of equipment… There were
management directives and decisions
that were contrary to what I had
learned…You (were) always defending,
always justifying, the expenses… and
the equipment in the States is so
different from the equipment here.”
Sailing for new shores
The frustrated young man was
lucky that his wife came from an
entrepreneurial Chinese family who
taught him the ins and outs of running
a retail business. To get their feet wet
in selling, the Nuevos first helped out
in the family business of importing
bicycles and distributing them all over
the Philippines. “At first, it was
simple… You bought… You sold…
There wasn’t much of a challenge,” he
claimed. After that experience, he went
into wholesaling and operating a talyer
(car repair shop) before finally settling
down with his present profession: selling
hardware and construction supplies.
The Nuevos had a small space in
Bicutan, Parañaque that they were
renting out to an owner of a hardware
store. When the owner moved on, the
couple decided to test the waters of
hardware selling and continue serving
the store’s customers by putting up a
store in that same space. A year later,
the couple realized that they could,
indeed, manage hardware retail
operations, and opened Tensile
Builders in its present location along
Doña Soledad Avenue, Better Living
Subdivision, Bicutan, Parañaque.
Riding the waves
Running a hardware store wasn’t
that difficult, but Eduardo realized
that it wasn’t as easy to operate as an
ordinary retail outfit. “There’s a
rhythm to the business…”, he
expounds. “Pero may isang segment ng
customer na hindi ko na-experience sa
bicycle shop (but there was a customer
segment that I had not experienced
in selling bicycles): `yung contractors.”
Contractors, Eduardo explained,
were much different from retail
customers because retail customers
paid in cash for what they bought—
kaliwaan, as what most people would
say. Because contractors are busy
managing large construction projects,
and often ordered supplies and
construction materials before being
paid by their clients, “hahabulin mo pa
(sila)… `Pag hindi (sila) naka-collect, hindi
sila magbabayad sa `yo… Minsan,
nabayaran na sila, pero babayaran pa nila
yung ibang utang nila (You’d have to run
after them… If they aren’t able to
collect from their clients, then they
can’t pay you… Sometimes, even if
they’ve already been paid by their
clients, they still won’t pay you because
they’ll pay for their other debts first).”
The business environment, too, is
very unsteady, he says. From 1997 to
1998, when the country was in the
midst of the Asian economic crisis,
business was very “pale”. Prices of
many basic commodities soared
because of the devaluing peso, and
people held on to whatever money
they had. Then, in 2001, business
picked up because of the local elections.
“Maraming nagpapagawa kapag
eleksiyon (A lot of construction
happens during election season),”
Eduardo says with a smile.
Steering Steering Steering his his ship
ship
In spite of all these challenges, he
enjoys his new career and steers his
team through changing tides. His
business philosophy is simple, he
claims: know what your customers
need, and always give them the best