A young entrepreneur's journey to success

MANILA, Philippines - He has always dreamt of living the good life, and being the ambitious kid that he was, 37-year-old Eduard Tolosa made a fairly bold step at a young age. During his high school years, he decided to bring forth the businessman in him. From selling headbands, T-shirts to different kind of accessories to his classmates and friends, he assumed responsibility of providing for his needs at that time, managing to at least earn P200 a week.

“It was a very fulfilling experience because I no longer had to rely on my father or sister for my allowance,” he said. “What I earned, I used it to buy things to sell again so this became a cycle.”

Come college when he took up nursing at the Family Clinic College of Nursing, his mind was reeling again and wondering what things he should sell to his classmates. Fortunately, one of his friends had a stock of imported goods straight from the United States and he took advantage. He began selling PX goods and in just one morning, he managed to earn P300. A week also brought him earnings of P1,500 to P2,000. He even remembers an incident when he was able to sell a house through the referral system, earning him P15,000 in commission, and he considers this his biggest break yet. He spent his hard-earned money by saving half of it while the other half, he used it to treat his classmates for snacks, bought something for his parents or for his siblings and the rest served as his allowance.

“My grandmother taught us to always share our blessings,” he said. “When I started earning, I was able to apply this principle she has taught us – and it brought me fulfillment as well.”

After graduation in college, he decided to leave for the United States back in 1997 and there, life wasn’t quite easy for him. Being a nurse, he took on three jobs for five years straight: at a hospice center, as a program manager for the developmental disabled and as integrated supervisor at a school district. At that time, he was earning about $3,000 to $4,5000 a month collectively. And apart from that, he also took on a job as a money lender – establishing his own business, the MV (Mission Viejo) Financial Group soon thereafter.

“I did all of those things for five years,” he said. “So what I did was just to save and save and save money. Life was hard there but I was persistent, determined and I put all of my passion in my work,” Tolosa said.

Fortunately, at that time, the US economy was down and after two years of saving up and when he turned twenty-four, he eventually was able to buy his first house at a low price and his first Mercedes Benz in California through bank financing. He gave a 10 percent down payment with the help of one of his good friends. Two years later, he decided to take advantage of the US depression – quite a risk – and bought another house. When he encouraged a friend to also buy a house, he was pleasantly surprised when he received a commission of $500. That’s when he began studying about loan processing and real estate and even talked to a real estate company about turning his office into a satellite one.

After several years, he was surprised when the real estate business started picking up. And his satellite office then became crowded with clients. He then bought properties in the Philippines only to sell them at a higher price. He also bought his own place in Rockwell and a couple more and rented out some of them.

But not everything turned rosy for Eduard. The time came when the real estate industry in the United States started slowing down and he saw his office fizzling out with clients. No one wanted to buy a house anymore – he invested in millions only to have the money unreturned. Before he knew it, he had to close down his office and had to sell some of his properties in the States. He went into depression for two years before his sister made him realize that everything is not lost – he still had properties in the Philippines.

So he came back home and that’s when he began to invest in properties, either selling them or renting them out. As of late, he’s currently developing a world-class resort in Laguna to be opened by the end of this year and a travel agency in the Fort.

“Through all of these things, I have learned to put my faith and trust in God,” he said. “And to take risks, for you will never get anywhere without taking that first step.”