About
Who we are: two cities, one team
Digitalizing cities: first Búzios, in Brazil; now Ciudad del Este.
CDE DIGITAL starts in Ciudad del Este from an idea that already worked in another city: digitalize the commerce of one specific place, by living there. It was founded by André Luis Castro, on the technical front, and Hugo Mendes Guimarães, on the commercial one.
The thesis comes tested. The same team built the Búzios Digital operation in Brazil, with a city portal and a working podcast studio.
Búzios taught us three things, and all three apply here. The work starts by walking into the shop, not by opening the code editor. A city portal only works if someone publishes every week, and that is routine, not talent. And the studio proved itself on our own shows first: before selling production to anyone, the mistakes were on us.
The second chapter is here for a reason: in Ciudad del Este's affiliated commerce, seven out of ten payments already happen by QR code, and mandatory electronic invoicing already has a published schedule. That is exactly the business we understand.
The border is not a hard market; it is a different one. Three countries meet here, the same counter serves in more than one language and takes payment from both sides of the bridge — Brazil's PIX is already enabled in more than 35,000 businesses on Paraguay's Infonet/Bancard network. A system built for a single-currency store does not adapt to that: it breaks. The numbers, dated and sourced, are on our facts page.
We could have run all of this from Asunción, or from Brazil, over video calls. We did not, because of the first thing Búzios taught us: the work starts inside your shop, and you do not get inside through a screen. So the second chapter opened with an office of its own, not with a calendar of video calls.
The office is in Edificio San Miguel, 3rd floor, office 9, at the corner of Av. Adrián Jara and Av. Pampliega — the commercial heart of Ciudad del Este. The Paraguayan RUC is in process, and its status is published on the transparency page.
The thesis
What digitalizing cities means
It starts at a counter, not in a plan
A city is not digitalized by decree, or all at once. It happens when one shop stops reconciling by hand, the one next door starts showing up in search, and a third builds an audience of its own. We work business by business: the city is the sum, not the starting point.
That is why there are three lines, not one
A digitalized business needs to get paid without friction, to be found, and to have a voice of its own. Software, marketing and a podcast studio are not a long catalogue: they are three parts of the same job. Each one is still hired on its own — if one is enough, start with one.
What it does not mean
Not a smart city, not an agreement with the city hall, not an app that fixes the city: we hold no contract with any public body. It also does not mean we have already digitalized Ciudad del Este — we started here recently, and we have not published a single client case yet.
Who does what
There are two of us, and each one runs a front
André Luis Castro — technical front
Architecture, development and infrastructure. He writes the scope — what is in, what is out, with a date and a price — before you sign, and he is the one who says no when software is not the answer. He built this site: the three languages, the map that loads nothing from third parties, and the checks that run on every change.
Hugo Mendes Guimarães — commercial front
The first conversation is with him, and so is the visit to your shop. He runs partnerships and the content line. He hosts Café na Palavra, recorded in our own studio, and produces the group's other two shows with the team: when he talks about audience, he is talking about a microphone he uses himself.
How we got here
First
Búzios, Brazil
The same team built a city portal and a working podcast studio — first as a sole proprietorship, later as Búzios Digital LTDA.
Then
The thesis holds
Digitalizing a city works when the people doing it live there: they know the shops, the seasons and who to call on a Saturday afternoon. It is not a model you export by manual.
Now
Ciudad del Este
Second chapter, in Ciudad del Este. New company, office open, same method — and everything we say here is backed on the transparency page.
Who we are
André Luis Castro
Co-founder — technical lead
Systems analyst. Master's candidate in Production Engineering and Computational Systems at UFF (Brazil).
View profileHugo Mendes Guimarães
Co-founder — commercial lead
Systems analyst. Creator of Café na Palavra and producer of the group's shows.
View profileWhat we know was learned in Búzios: the city portal and the studio that Búzios Digital runs in Brazil — a separate company in the same group, separately owned. Both are still running.
Before the quote, we look at your operation
Tell us what your business does and what you want to change. After we see how you work, the scope comes in writing — with a date and a price.