“ Basically, we had the vision to build this industry, to create among our people the habit of consuming entertainment”, assures Mr. Rodrigo Nogués, CEO and co-founder of G5Pro. Being part of GrupoCinco, Paraguay’s largest gastronomy and entertainment holding company, they share a common trajectory that started with one pub in 1989 and continued with owning and managing some of the capital’s best bars and restaurants, organizing large-scale private events and finally becoming the leading force behind Paraguay’s most renown concerts and music festivals, like KilkFest, which has brought internationally renowned artists such as the Arctic Monkeys and Liam Gallagher; or Asunciónico, the country’s top music festival, which this year received some 35,000 people on each of its three days of celebration. As Mr. Nogués explains, “before us, concerts in Paraguay were only every three or four years, and show producers really acted as the local leg of Argentinian or Brazilian production companies, who handled all the booking. We broke away from that and built our own way.”

Moreover, their outstanding results not only make them one of the most successful examples of innovation and diversified growth in the country’s entertainment industry, they have also demonstrated how the public and private sectors can collaborate and benefit mutually. On the one hand, because big events help maintain public infrastructure like the Olympic Park, where this year’s Asunciónico was held; and on the other because previously successful private-public collaborations has led G5Pro to participate in what might be their most exciting project yet: the development of a groundbreaking entertainment and gastronomic space at Asunción’s Port that will revolutionize the capital’s cultural life and is part of the government’s ambitious restoration program of the area. “The Port project brings together everything we have been working on in our trajectory: show business, gastronomy, advertising and promotion of culture”, says Mr. Nogués proudly.

In the future, they expect to continue expanding this collaboration even further by promoting the creation of a National Entertainment Law, following successful models from other Latin American countries such as Colombia. “We believe the government will support us, because they have already realized the economic impact our business has on a larger scale, as it generates employment in a way few industries can and promotes tourism, especially from the north of Argentina and the south of Brazil, for whom it is closer and cheaper to come here”, assures Mr. Nogués. Furthermore, major music festivals and concerts contribute to build Paraguay’s country brand because every time a big artist goes on tour there “it puts Paraguay on the map.” At the end, they are convinced all these efforts will work both ways, helping them become a better company and helping people improve their lives. As Mr. Nogués says, “what impresses me the most is that each time we have a crazy idea our work ends up having a big social impact, both as a source of employment and by reaching people in more personal ways. In this business, whether you win or lose, somehow people always win.”