Guided by the mantra “Create the change you want to see in the world,” Canadian Nathan Sudds started hosting co-working events in Asunción. Within a year the 50-year-old digital nomad turned a quiet corner of Café West Coffee into a thriving hub of connection. Hosting the ever-expanding Co-working in Asunción community once a week doesn’t even meet the need anymore. The Asunción Times joined them for a day.
This Tuesday afternoon in West Coffee even Nathan himself is caught off guard by the number of community members that found their way to the café at Paseo Miraflores, just north of Las Lomas. With co-workers walking in and out, laptops in hand, most of the roughly twenty seats in the cozy café stay filled most of the time.
“It’s crazy to think that only one year ago it was just me and a friend coming here with a laptop. Now we have over 120 people from 4 continents and 25 different countries in our co-working community”, Nathan says in between welcoming two newcomers and passionately showing his virtual reality headset to a fellow Canadian.
The concept of the ‘Co-working in Asunción’ events is straightforward. Every Tuesday afternoon, from 1 PM to 6 PM, Nathan hosts the gathering on the upper floor of Café West Coffee. A lively WhatsApp group keeps members connected, sharing updates and even invites from people to spontaneous co-working sessions at varied times and spots throughout the week.
“We have a good mix of remote workers, expats and Paraguayans, people who live here long term, and then people just passing through. We come here to work, network and socialise. Often I see people standing over one laptop together, helping each other with technical or business stuff. Sometimes an afternoon can be more social than working, or people go together to a next event after co-working. There are so many layers to this community.”
‘Perfect combination’
This week, the co-working event features its own mascot. Loulou, a striking German Shepherd-Border Collie mix, lounges at the feet of his owner, Gaelle, keenly tracking the people who come and go. Yet his kind eyes never stray far from his laptop-focused owner.
“I just arrived in Asunción three weeks ago and I love the co-working events. And of course the fact that the café is dog-friendly”, 35-year-old French Gaelle says smiling at Loulou, who tilts his head upward, ears perked as if decoding every syllable. “For me this meeting is the perfect combination of a working vibe and meeting new people.”
“I used to work in a hospital, directly together with ten people. Working with the other co-workers here feels like that again. Just with better coffee.”
Great host
The mastermind behind Gaelle’s last remark is West Coffee’s barista, Alexandra Pratt. Downstairs she crafts another cup of coffee for one of the co-workers. The Asunción-born-and-raised barista is happy with the weekly event taking place upstairs.
“It’s so nice to have all those people from different cultures together at the café”, Alexandra says. “It’s a fun group, almost feeling a bit like family. Even when people go back to their country we stay in touch and they keep following us on Instagram. And even though I speak English, a lot of them practice Spanish with me.”
“She’s always correcting me”, Nathan chuckles. “I don’t roll my r’s enough, she says.”
Creating the change
After more than a decade of wandering as digital nomads through Asia, Europe and Latin America, Nathan and his wife happily call Asunción their home since December 2023. Everywhere the couple went, they tried to play an active role in connecting with their new home country and the people within.
“I was hosting Tuesday co-working in Greece and Bulgaria before. I feel you can’t just come to a country and sit there, saying it’s boring and there’s nothing to do”, Nathan states. “Create the change you want to see in the world. I’m doing that with these co-working events; creating a whole line of new connections and friendships, bringing people together. We even adopted some people who came to the café to work, not knowing about the event. ‘Oh, you’re not here for the co-working? Well, now you are.’”
Demand keeps going up
People’s craving to co-work in Asunción keeps growing, Nathan sees. So next to the Tuesday meetings, now there’s also Thursday co-working.
“I was reluctant to do this at first, because I have a lot of other things going on at my work as a consultant. But now we have Felipe from Switzerland and Alan from Taiwan, guys out of our own community, to host Thursdays, experimenting with different locations. Through the WhatsApp group we all stay up to date.”
‘Very shy’
Nathan is flabbergasted by the success and enjoys the fruits of his efforts. Both socially and personally. “Co-working gets me out and in a different head space. I actually never knew I was a community builder. Nobody believes me now, but I used to be very shy. Now, building this little community here, I’m talking to everyone.”
Wanna join Nathan Sudds and the Co-working in Asunción community? Find them on Tuesdays between 1 PM and 6 PM at Café West Coffee at Paseo Miraflores (Julio Correa Street).
