Tomas Hautea began exercising his entrepreneurial skills when he was still a student. At 18, Tomas also ventured into agriculture and leased fishponds, eventually purchasing the now family-owned fishpond in Dumangas, Iloilo plus other fishponds in their locality and neighboring towns. At the dawn of the new millennium, Tomas again entered another business – bangus (milkfish) hatchery. With the support of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Agricultural Competitiveness Enhancement Fund and Land Bank of the Philippines, Tomas started the construction of his bangus hatchery in 2003.

2 Ilonggos succeed on bangus, biscocho. (2008, September 7). The Philippine Star, pp. 1, 5.