These days, Lady Luck is probably smiling from ear to ear on businessman Sebastian “Steve” Tamayo.
Managing several outlets of his famous chain of restaurants--Tamayo’s
and other businesses, including a consultancy firm, a flower shop and
catering services, Steve considers himself as one of the luckiest
people in the world.
But life was not all a bed of roses for this self-styled restaurant
owner. He, like, many of us, had been knocked down and hit rock bottom a
couple of times.
Humble beginnings
Steve was brought up by the Tamayo couple of Hagonoy, Bulacan to be a
hard working lad. Coming from a middle-class family, at an early age, he
was taught by his parents, particularly his mother, to help in
household chores.
“I was only in grade six when I helped in the chores in the house. I
mostly helped my mother in the preparation and cooking native delicacies
for our small carinderia (eatery) in Bulacan then,” he recalled.
Being the 11th child of a brood of 12, Steve said his father was
paralyzed then so he had to help with the chores, along with his other
siblings.
Along with some of his older brothers, Steve would fish at a nearby lake
at night. Proceeds from the sale of any fish caught made up his
allowance the next day. He promised himself that the hardships he had
experienced that day would all change someday with hard work, and
determination.
When he reached adolescence, Steve decided to stay with his relatives
while attending Marcelo H. del Pilar High School in Malolos, Bulacan.
Some of his brothers and sisters had families of their own at that time.
In exchange for the free board and lodging, he helped in the cooking and other household chores.
“I was attending school and surviving with only P5 a week,” he said, noting the money came from what he earned from fishing.
To make matters worst, the Tamayo patriarch died while Steve was in
second year high school. But that tragic event did not diminish the
perseverance of the Bulakenyo.
After finishing high school, he immediately went to Manila to pursue a
college degree, taking up Commerce, major in accounting, at the
University of the East in Recto, Manila at the same time took up typing
course.
While studying, he got a job as a janitor at then Hong Kong-Shanghai Bank in PAL building on Ayala Avenue, Makati.
“I was assigned at the midnight shift there. We were assigned to clean
eight floors,” he said, being assigned to different chores every week.
He was even tasked to scrub the dirty toilet bowls, a job he was not
embarrassed to admit.
“I would really make sure that the toilet bowls were cleaned,” he said.
Steve also managed to land a job as a part time waiter at former Silahis
Hotel-Playboy Club Manila through the help of co-bed spacer in P.
Campa, Manila.
At 16, Steve was taking up Commerce and typing and maintaining two odd jobs at the same time.
His routine, which only afforded him four hours of decent sleep a day,
lasted for several months until he was made a regular bus boy at the
hotel and he resigned as janitor from the bank.
The Break
Steve was a natural public relations man. The ability to entertain guests was a talent innate to him.
One day, an Arab guest who became his friend, offered Steve work at his
hotel in Saudi Arabia. So as soon as he graduated from college in 1981,
he grabbed the opportunity and flew to the Middle Eastern country.
“In that hotel, I worked not only as a waiter but sidelined as a butler
and house cleaner and a cook,” Steve recounted, as his network of
friends, both business and personal, steadily grew.
Only after two years in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he had earned enough to
build his own house. There, he also met his wife, Mila, who had been
very active in the Church.
After four years in Saudi Arabia, Steve decided to move on to Kuwait
where his abilities and business acumen would be fully realized.
And as he predicted, the Tamayo business empire even grew in Kuwait,
where he ventured into selling T-shirts and other items to his
kababayans who would be sending gifts to their relatives in the
Philippines.
But his clientele was not only Filipinos but also other foreigners, who craved his famous “ube.”
Tamayo also joined the choir of a Catholic Church in Kuwait and continued his religious service.
“I was high in business and at the same time I was high in God,” he
said, while working as manager in Mary Jane Hotel in Kuwait and became
active in Church with Mila.
Steve also befriended and served as a household help for a Swiss couple staying at the penthouse of the hotel.
After three months of cleaning the penthouse, he was invited again by
the Swiss couple to a party. He was now being introduced by the couple
not as a helper but a family member to the guests in the party, where he
rubbed elbows with sheiks.
Steve Tamayo, the Entrepreneur
When he earned enough, he resigned from work at the hotel and
established his own business, SM (which stand for Steve, Mila) Fashion
Wear at one of the prestigious hotel/commercial buildings at a financial
district in Kuwait.
“I was very successful at that time and I felt very blessed… I
considered myself as the biggest Filipino businessman in Kuwait that
time,” he said.
After two years, he went back to the Philippines and married Mila. He returned to Kuwait to continue his business.
In July 25, 1990, the ribbon cutting ceremony of his shop was covered by
the local media in Kuwait with a Philippine ambassador doing the
honors. The next day the event landed on the front pages of two big
newspapers—Arab Times and Kuwait Times—with screaming headlines “Steve
Tamayo, Filipino Entrepreneur.”
The first 15 days of its operation, Tamayo’s business venture earned almost P1 million.
Leap of faith
In July 31, 1990, although tired, Steve called up his wife in the
Philippines to share the good news—that the shop in Kuwait was doing
very well.
“She was crying that time because the news in the Philippines was that
there was already war in the Middle East and Kuwait,” he said.
Steve called one of his brothers, who was with Mila that time, to calm
her down. After the call, he and his other brothers prepared the orders
for ube to be delivered the following day to their clients.
His brothers turned in around midnight, while Steve stayed up until 2
a.m. All of them stayed at the penthouse at 17th floor of the
residential/commercial building.
Around 4 a.m. he was roused by noises outside the establishment. He got
up and saw from the sea, countless speedboats speeding towards the
shore. Not contented, Steve decided to investigate the noise and look
down from his suite.
He saw on the streets just below his penthouse were several battle tanks with red flags. Saddam Hussein had invaded Kuwait.
Fearing for their lives, Steve hurriedly woke up his brothers to leave the building.
“I knew then that it was not safe for us to stay in that building
because it would be the first ones to be ransacked by the soldiers,”
Steve said.
He tried calling his wife on the phone inside the building but the lines were cut off by the invaders.
Steve managed to get his relatives to the Mary Jane hotel where he used
to work. But he was left alone in the streets where gunfights were
starting between the Kuwaiti troops and Saddam’s Red Guards.
“That time, I made a pact and prayed to God that if He will spare my
life and bring me back to the Philippines alive, I will leave all my
investments in Kuwait,” he said, with the lingering feeling that he
might get killed during the invasion.
Just as the tanks and the firefights were getting closer, Steve felt some force that made him leap into a large open trash bin.
“I was like Lito Lapid and hurriedly jumped into the bin to elude the
crossfire. My ears hurt because of the volley of gunfire around me while
I’m in the garbage bin,” he said.
DENNIS CARCAMO
abs-cbnNEWS.com
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