Christian BolaNos



Altamar Seafood Company


San Jose, Costa Rica


The Business


Over ten years after its birth, ALTAMAR is focused on becoming an industry leader in the seafood industry’s distribution supply chain. The company has been instrumental in creating a sustainable pathway, linking the hard-working artisanal fishermen in hard-hit coastal communities with the end client interested in a high-quality, eco-friendly product.

ALTAMAR has grown from humble beginnings, from serving small restaurants and hotels to eventually becoming certified as a trusted supplier of the Costa Rican government and Presidential Palace. Nevertheless, it is important to note that recently the company had to be reinvented from the ground up as it was impacted greatly by the COVID-19 pandemic. Focused mainly on distribution to large government entities such as schools, hospitals, and police stations, ALTAMAR lost 90% of its revenue stream in one day when the lockdowns began without notice.

 

With certainty and faith, ALTAMAR eventually changed from wholesale to personalized retail. Through God's grace, ALTAMAR was not only able to keep supporting all of its employees, collaborators and fishermen, but also to provide a much-needed service to a new customer base. Successfully reinventing the business model to a home delivery service also allowed ALTAMAR to make an impact by relieving clients of the fear and risks associated with COVID-19.

 

The key aspect of ALTAMAR is that the company belongs only to God, and its only role is to manage according to the teachings of Christ. The members of the team seek to serve each other, creating a culture of empowerment through training and tools that reflect Christ’s leadership values. This message then gets passed to the team’s families and even reaches the clients themselves. ALTAMAR emphatically believes that by leading with their hearts, through GOD's love, they will generate a lasting impact on the community as a whole.

MISSION


ALTAMAR acknowledges that they do not own anything, but rather everything belongs to God. The company’s responsibility is to manage the blessings God has provided for others’ benefit. ALTAMAR intends to extend His blessings to everyone they can, not only in their close circle of family and friends, but also in their community as a whole: collaborators, clients, the church and beyond.

In business, being a follower of Christ offers the unique opportunity to do things differently. Regular self-serving business practices that are focused on economic profits and self-gain must be exchanged for those that benefit all, as the aim is to serve one another. Economic sustainability and growth come as a side effect of doing God's work, and that is the blessing of following in His footsteps. One day, one sale, and one task at a time, ALTAMAR gives their hearts to present God's love and grace.


ALTAMAR’s values are based on Christ's teachings, and therefore honesty, hard work, mercy, kindness, solidarity, humility and service are at their core. This is evident in the company’s commitment to social sustainability and long-term relationships: ALTAMAR provides fair trade prices to fishermen and living wages to collaborators. Ecological awareness is also critical to the business model and it is demonstrated through responsible fishing requirements.


ALTAMAR’s clients not only receive the best product possible with a great service, but also feel proud to support a company that creates a real impact in at-risk communities. Some of the ways ALTAMAR relieves real needs is through food provision, medical health care, education, and ocean protection.


God has made it possible for ALTAMAR to develop a business model based on His teaching and has demonstrated the value and power of spiritual practices. This revelation has given birth to a bigger dream of creating centers around the world focused on teaching and developing spiritual disciplines. These “Mission Camps” will have the purpose of creating fertile ground for the journey to spiritual maturity in Christ-followers who will then have the proper tools to share the Good News.

Faith/Leadership


Christian Bolaños accepted Jesus as his savior 10 years ago and has chosen to follow Him every day since. As a troubled youth, Christian walked in darkness until His precious hands gave Christian eternal rescue. By His grace, Christian realized Jesus was the missing piece in every aspect of his life and his most valued treasure.

“We should not try to make the gospel fit our lives, but that we should make our lives fit in the Gospel” is a guiding principle in Christian’s faith and leadership practices. God allows us to live the Gospel hundreds of times every single day. Being a Christian leader means using the holy scriptures as a daily manual, and being able to appreciate the opportunities to learn and teach others the values of Jesus.


Humility, service, mercy, tenderness, kindness and empathy, among others, are characteristics Jesus lived by. Christian leaders understand that these are powerful tools that need to be put into practice to create deep, meaningful, and transformational impact all around them.


God has blessed Christian with his wife, Paula, a beautiful, supportive, caring and loving follower of Christ. He has also entrusted Christian with the guidance of their two incredible sons, Mateo and Gabriel. Christian’s life is full of blessings, and day in and day out, he does his best to use them in service of God.

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