Carsten Pfau

Entrepreneur | Investor | TV Personality

Born in Swabia, he grew up in Bielefeld from the age of three, where he also completed his A-levels. He studied business administration at the University of Mannheim (degree: Diplom-Kaufmann), specializing in banking and finance. His minor subjects were law and mathematics. He speaks five languages. He has lived in Paraguay, South America, since 1996. He is married to television presenter and former top Paraguayan model Ariela Machado. The couple have four children.

The company

With his group of companies, Carsten Pfau has generated over 100 million US dollars in investments in Paraguay. The majority of his investors come from Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the USA. The company focuses on real estate, agriculture and industry. The total gross value of the investment portfolio is around USD 1.8 billion (as at December 2023).

ALDERA RESORT LIFE

With the Aldera Resort, a completely new, private suburb is being built between Paraguay’s capital Asuncion and the upmarket suburb of San Bernardino. The area of over 16 million square meters will include around 5,000 residential buildings and parks, a 27-hole golf course, a lagoon with a sandy beach, equestrian facilities, a sports park and a private airstrip.

Ecovita Country Club

The private residential and leisure complex is located in Nueva Italia, 35 km from Asuncion. The almost 900,000 square meter complex contains 427 building plots for residential and vacation homes, as well as an extensive sports and leisure facility.

Terra Tower & JW Marriott Hotel Asunción

The high-rise project is located at the intersection of Aviadores del Chaco and Santa Teresa avenues in the heart of Asunción’s financial and business district. Once completed, it will contain a JW Marriott Hotel, private condominiums and office space.

Industrias Citrícolas del Paraguay (ICP)

The factory in Nueva Italia is dedicated to the industrial production of orange juice concentrate, orange oil and other citrus products.

NYNE Water

NYNE natural mineral water is characterized by a natural pH value of 9.6 and a high silicon content. It is bottled in Bella Vista (Sur).

Pfau Group companies are among the largest producers of tomatoes, peppers, oranges, limes and strawberries in Paraguay.
At times, it was also one of the largest cattle breeders in the country.
The company also owns two orange juice brands and a supermarket.

TV Media

Since July 2020 ...

… Carsten Pfau can be seen weekly with his talk show Libres para Elegir in prime time on Paraguayan television (Unicanal). He leads a panel of experts who discuss economic and political issues. At times, Javier Milei (President of Argentina from 2023) was also a member of the panel of experts. The program has an emphatically liberal-conservative perspective.

Between 2021 and 2023 ...

… four seasons of the business reality show El Audaz were shown on the evening program (Canal Trece). Every Saturday evening, Carsten Pfau evaluated the projects of young start-up entrepreneurs who applied for investment for their respective projects. The candidates had to compete in several rounds to make it to the season finale, where they were able to negotiate an investment with Carsten. In 2023, Carsten won a Paraná Award (the Paraguayan version of the Emmy) for the program El Audaz.

Carsten Pfau owns the rights to the programs Libres para Elegir, El Audaz and the daily talk show Las Chicas. He has also acquired the Paraguayan rights to the Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Earth and Miss International beauty pageants, which are run by his wife Ariela Machado.

Outside Paraguay, he has appeared on the covers of Sachwert Magazin (DE) and Business Influencer (UK/USA). In the USA, he has been featured in Forbes, USA Today, Haute Living, Fox News, CNN and ABC. In Germany, he was mentioned in particular on Wallstreet Online, Finanzwelt and Finanzpraxis.

Selected magazine covers

PROMECO Foundation

In 2019, Carsten Pfau established the PROMECO Foundation in Paraguay, of which he is also President. The foundation’s assets mainly come from his own private funds and donations. The aim of the foundation is to combat poverty by implementing the principles of a free market economy. The foundation also advocates a low-tax policy and a lean state.

Politics

Carsten Pfau gehört keiner politischen Partei oder Bewegung an. Trotz unterstrichen überparteilicher Haltung vertritt er jedoch regelmäßig liberal-konservative Ideen und Grundsätze, und spricht sich entschieden gegen jede Form des Sozialismus aus. In Paraguay, he regularly supports the election campaigns of candidates from the liberal-conservative camp on a cross-party basis.