For 57-year-old Mike Bolos, a former financial analyst working in Saudi Arabia, making a profit is no longer what drives him. As a “social entrepreneur,” he said his life is now focused on uplifting the lives of overseas Filipino workers and their families through business projects.

When he came home for good in 1995, Bolos said he did not mind that his businesses lost money.

“I am more of a social entrepreneur. I’m not after profit anymore. If you’re looking for good return on investment, then I’m the wrong guy (to invest with),” Bolos told abs-cbnNEWS. “As long as I do not lose money, and I create jobs and I provide opportunities for people to make a decent living, that’s my profit.”

Â
Vindication
Bolos now feels his efforts were worth it, and the government thinks so, too.

The Overseas Workers Welfare Administration (OWWA) will award him Outstanding Former OFW of the Year for Region III.

He said he will receive the award in ceremonies in San Fernando on June 7, Filipino Migrant Workers’ Day.

Bolos was once touted by the National Regintegration Center for OFWs (NRCO) as the best example of an OFW who had come back and helped rebuild the Philippine economy.

Â
After effects
Bolos, however, is most proud of the fact that a building he put up in his hometown of Guagua, Pampanga has caused businesses there to mushroom.

“I’m educating the whole town, parang I’m reinventing the wheel for the whole town,” Bolos said, explaining that he is working for the revival of Guagua, which was once the center of trading in Pampanga.

Today, the center of trade is the city of San Fernando, which hosts two big malls and other commercial establishments.

He said, “Guagua is unique, there is money (in the town) but people have nothing to buy there, so people go to San Fernando.”

According to Bolos, “I am doing things slowly to make them buy in Guagua.”

“After I opened, the other property owners in the town started improving their own properties, so may mga other investors na ngayong pumapasok,” he said.

Bolos said a small department store and a known beauty parlor have relocated to Guagua.

“I’m developing the market, I’m planting the seeds,” he said.

Â
It started with a spa
Bolos’ entry into Philippine business came following his retirement in Saudi Arabia where he worked for 25 years.

The former OFW, who doesn’t drink or smoke, said his only vice was his baby, “The Bay Spa.” His leap from OFW to entrepreneur started when he acquired this spa.

From there, he went on to put up a P60-million three-storey, mixed-use building in the heart of Guagua.

Overseas work has taken its toll on Bolos and his family. He is now separated from his wife, while his children have become distant to him.

However, he has become closer to his clients, overseas Filipino workers. He devotes a lot of his time guiding OFWs so they can improve their lives through proper investment.

Bolos said OFWs who want to put up their own businesses upon returning to the Philippines must have money not just for capital.

“Doon mo rin kukuhanin ang kakainin mo (you will also get your subsistence money from that),” he said.

He expressed hope these investments will make them earn enough and stay in the country.

Â