ESTEBAN Tutor arrived in Cebu from Bohol three years ago to earn a living to raise his family of four.
But at his age, the 49-year-old Boholano couldn’t find a job. He only finished high school.
Tutor tried another tack – and started his own business instead.
With only a few hundred pesos as capital, Tutor started selling biscuits, softdrinks, junk food, and cigarettes along the sidewalk in M. Logarta Street, barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
Tutor would wake up at 5 a.m. and start selling to passersby, construction workers and employees of a nearby mall.
On good days, said Tutor, he would earn as high as P1000. It would be less than P500 on lean days especially during bad weather.
Part of the sales would be set aside to buy merchandise, and the rest would go to buying rice and other food.
“This is the only business I can do,” said Tutor in Cebuano.
Small as it is, the enterprise has helped him provide for the daily basic needs of his family and have a little savings.
After three years, Tutor’s efforts paid off.
Today he has a sari-sari store run by his partner in his house in Back Pepsi, barangay Mabolo, Cebu City.
He was also able to buy a second-hand trisikad to ferry his goods to the street where he would sell them.
“Mao na gyud siguro ni ang panglahutay na mo nga negosyo, kay kung mohonong mi dili man sad mi makakaon (This may be our long-term business. If we stop selling, we wouldn’t be able to eat),” said Tutor.
If he gets to earn more, said Tutor, he plans to expand his sari-sari store and get a bigger space. /Palompon Institute of Technology Intern Agnes Divina P. Enguito