Robert Gomes

Robert Gomes, born June 4th 1989, is an Owlian-Portugese businessman, politician, activist and entrepreneur, who is most well-known for his rousing speeches and his extremely successful chain of restaurants and food products, Gomes’ Waffles, which is by far the leading brand in waffle manufacturing and distribution in North America. He is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Gomes Waffles, and was the Grand Mayor of the Free City of Nova Beja, a small city-state which he, as well as many other politicians, had founded in the wake of the Canadian invasion of the Owl Archipelago.

Early Life
Robert Gomes was born on June the Fourth 1989, to a middle-class family in the port city of Nova Beja. His mother was a day-trader, while his father was a plumber, and owned a mid-sized plumbing company, Gomes Plumbing. Throughout his childhood, Gomes always pressued by his parents to study hard, to a point where he would sometimes spend hours on end studying. As he grew older, he began to resent his studies and skip school to meet up with his friends. In his late teens, he began to pick up the hobby of cooking, often cooking his own breakfasts when his parents were out working, and even scoring a part-time job at a local restaurant, the Hooting Own Tavern, as a short-order cook, where he would have his first experience in the workplace, and where he would meet his future wife, Sofia Barbosa. Though his parents were extremely harsh on him, he always found solace when visiting his grandparents, Raymundo and Rosa Gomes, who always cared for him and who he loved dearly. He had a brief stint as a Hockey player before suffering a shin injury which would turn him away from the sport. Though his job at the Hooting Owl Tavern meant that he had less time to focus on his studies and less time to spend with his friends, he enjoyed his work and was well-liked by his colleagues. In his later years, with university looming, he would refocus himself on his studies in what he described as the worst two years of his life. Due to his past lack of care for his grades, they had dropped significantly below what any sane university would accept, and so he only had two years to bring up his GPA to acceptable levels. When his parents found out how much his grades had slipped, they kicked him out of the house for a month, during which he stayed at the Hooting Own Tavern for 15% of his wages. During these two years, he was up day and night studying the material so as to be able to get into a good university, and socially isolated himself in order to achieve this. Though he has expressed his hatred for these two years multiple times, his hard work did pay off, as he managed to graduate with a Grade Point Average of 3.7

University and Military career
Following his graduation from high school, he would, thanks to his relatively high grade-point-average of 3.7, be accepted into the University of Nova Beja, where he would study both business and economics. Though his parents were not exactly the most supportive of him in prior years, they agreed to pay for his tuition, though with the clause that he were to still work a job, in order to get useful experience. He chose to continue his job at the Hooting Owl Tavern, where he was promoted to sous chef. At the University of Nova Beja, he managed to score high marks, and showed a large amount of potential in the field of business, earning him a partial scholarship to get his masters. Before he could begin however, the Owlian Civil War began, in which he pledged himself to the Republican forces, and earned the title of First Leiutenant during his service in the war. Following his service, he returned to his hometown of Nova Beja where he would continue his studies and start the People's Party, a right-wing political party focused on personal and economic freedoms. After catching his girlfriend, Cristiana Lima, cheating on him, he would leave her and begin dating one Sofia Barbosa, a long-time friend and colleague for which he began to fall for. Following his graduation of the University of Nova Beja, he would run for MP, a race which he would win in a very close race against Ramiro Gama of Green Owlian Progress.

Political Career and business
As Member of Parliament, he would do his best to pass several bills, as well as promoting austerity and lower tax rates, however his cries fell on the mostly deaf ears of the chamber of Parliament as one of the few right-wing politicians in the nation. Though he tried his best to promote economic and personal liberty, even forming a coalition with Henrique Spínola of the Liberal Party, named Owl Archipelago Forward, meant to align the few right-wingers in Parliament, he would be voted out of office when he ran for a fourth term, and the coalition dissolved as Spinola would instead turn to Enough! a right-wing populist party founded by Hugo Eiola. Though saddened by his loss at the elections, Gomes took it as a sign that he was meant for something more than politics, something far, far more important, something that would change the course of Owlian history forever. His loss at the polls was merely a sign, a message from God himself, that the man was destined for greatness which could never be attained by a simple politician, which is why, only a week following his defeat at the elections, he founded his magnum opus, Gomes’ Waffles. Utilizing the signature waffle recipe which he had been cooking and refining for himself and his wife for years, he opened his first branch in Nova Évora, which was a smash hit, with lines stretching multiple city blocks just to try the world-famous Gomes Waffles. A couple time after Gomes Waffles was founded, Robert Gomes had become the 100th richest man in the Owl Archipelago, and had nearly a hundred Gomes Waffles locations all over the nation, however around that time, his astonishingly fast growth would slow down as his wife, now Sofia Gomes, had given birth to their first child, Raymundo Gomes II, named after Raymundo Gomes, Robert Gomes' loving grandfather who had passed away just the year prior, which was a devastating loss to Robert. Though he took a lot of time off work to take care of the young Raymundo, he still managed to grow his business significantly in the years leading up to the civil war, opening numerous branches in the United States, as well as Europe, mainly in Portugal, France, the Benelux, Germany and Denmark, as well as a dozen branches in the United Kingdom. A year later, the company would expand into Asia, opening stores in major metropolitan areas such as Singapore, Toyko, Taipei, Mumbai, Hong Kong, Macau and even Shanghai. That same year, Gomes would also begin to diversify his portfolio, investing in real estate and smaller companies around the world, including getting a partial share in several casinos in Macau, and even 0.5% in Tesla.

Current Status
As his son reached the age of two, Gomes became the fifth richest person in the Owl Archipelago and Gomes Waffles was listed on the Fortune 500 list, however this year would mark the beginning of the end for Gomes' massive success. As the Owlian-Canadian war began, demand for waffles dropped dramatically in the OA, causing a 10% drop in Gomes Waffles stock prices just on the day which war was declared. Gomes considered re-enlisting to serve his country but decided against it in order to protect his family, and would continue life as usual in his home in Nova Beja, and with another child on the way, he took more and more time off work, leading to Gomes Waffles' stock plunging once more. As the Canadians marched forward however, Gomes knew what had to be done, and established the Free City of Nova Beja, a short-lived city-state in his hometown of Nova Beja, which in the end, succumbed to the Canadian Empire's will, as Bernier offered the city small amounts of autonomy and promised not to persecute the people of the city if they agreed to be annexed into the Territory of the Owl Archipelago. Gomes reluctantly accepted for the sake of preserving Owlian lives, though that unpopular decision further dropped Gomes Waffles stock prices. Following the annexation, Gomes re-built and re-opened many locations which had been destroyed during the war, which saw a massive short-term rejuvination in Gomes Waffles stock, however following Emperor Bernier's ban on the sale of waffles, Gomes Waffles stock once again went into freefall for several days before the announcement of the new Gomes Waffles Mix, a waffle mix which was technically completely legal. Now, Gomes sits in a precarious position, with the future of him, his family and his company still unsure, Gomes' next move will surely be a careful one.