Ricky Caplin is more amazed than anyone at how God has orchestrated his life, work, and ministry over the last seven years. In 2017, the entrepreneur sold one of the largest healthcare companies in the world, but he knew God required more of him.
“The Parable of the Talents really stuck out to me,” Caplin said. “If you can maximize your business talents, you need to make the most of it—not just sit in a self-imposed bubble.”
Caplin and his wife had a connection to India from the sale of his previous healthcare venture, so they decided to set aside funds and wait for God’s direction. Little did they know that God wouldn’t lead them to India, but to the Philippines.
ABOVE Ricky Caplin (right) with friends in the Philippines
God’s first move was to introduce Caplin to two people: WaterStone CEO Ken Harrison and the founder of a staffing company in the Philippines named Brian Heiner. Heiner was running Virtual Staffing Solutions (VSS) on the island of Leyte, and it was doing well.
Caplin and his partner worked with WaterStone to structure a deal that allowed them to purchase large stake in VSS through their Donor Advised Funds.
The more Caplin learned about the Philippines, the more he saw an opportunity to use his talents as a businessman to serve its people. The island of Leyte had been decimated by typhoon Yolanda. Millions had been displaced, and those that were left struggled to secure basic needs like food and water.
Caplin understood that the success of VSS could benefit the island’s residents, and Heiner had already started that work. He had become one of the largest employers on the island and had built cafes that were among the island’s best restaurants. VSS offered health benefits, which is rare in the Philippines, and for every six months working at VSS, employees could add a relative to the insurance policy.
Heiner had expressed interest in selling VSS to Caplin, but it would require more money than Caplin and his wife had set aside. But God had already begun working on a plan to solve that problem.
“God went beforehand and laid the groundwork for this, and it was a lot of patient endurance and prayer and waiting on God’s timing,” Caplin said. “He’s doing the heavy lifting.”
Caplin learned about WaterStone through Ken Harrison, who connected Caplin with another WaterStone donor who he thought would be interested in Caplin’s work in the Philippines. This donor was blown away by VSS and believed the real opportunity lay not only in giving but also in loving the people of the Philippines, building disciples for Christ, and instituting a God-honoring culture among VSS employees.
Caplin and his partner worked with WaterStone to structure a deal that allowed them to purchase a large stake in VSS through their Donor Advised Funds. This structure offered them tax advantages (even though the company is increasing in value), and WaterStone is set to own 100% of the company by the end of the year.
But God wasn’t done yet. Even though VSS was still relatively small, they landed two enormous clients through Ricky’s personal connections, and their EBITDA is set to triple in the next year.
Caplin and his partner are planning to use that business success to give back to the people of Leyte. They plan to partner with Harvesters International to build churches throughout the island, and they’re hiring a company chaplain to lean into VSS’s culture of faith.
They’re also hoping to build thousands of water wells. People are still dying due to a lack of clean water, but these new wells can solve that problem for a fraction of VSS’s yearly profits. The wells will offer physical water while the churches will offer Living Water.
Leyte is also, unfortunately, a source of human trafficking. Girls are sold by their relatives every year because they have no future on the island. But Caplin and his partner plan to build women’s academies to give these young women an education, work, and a way to escape their situation.
ABOVE A view from the interior of Virtual Staffing Solutions
None of these projects would be possible apart from the success of VSS, and that success would not have been possible without God’s intervention.
“We serve a really, really big God who’s capable of really, really big things, so don’t limit Him with the way that the world would tell you to think,” Caplin said.
We at WaterStone have been proud to work with Caplin and other donors as they seek to follow God’s path. It is our pleasure to help make these projects financially beneficial to our clients so they can do even more work for the Kingdom.