10 On The Weekend is a weekly (-ish) feature in IMI, the concept of which is simple: Each time, we ask the same ten questions of a different IMI Pro, letting readers get to know the interviewee on a more personal and informal level than they might during the ordinary course of business.
Our guest this week is João Pedro Cunha, Founder, CEO, and CMO of MFG Consultants
How do you spend your weekends?
I mostly spend weekends with my family. That’s non-negotiable. Outside of that, I try to disconnect from the day-to-day noise and think more long-term.
The week is execution, the weekend is perspective. I also spend time reading and filtering information, which is increasingly important in a space where there’s more content than actual insight.
What are your top three business goals this year?
First, continue building MFG Consultants as a genuinely independent advisory firm, not a distribution channel.
Second, grow internationally but in a controlled way. I’m not interested in volume for the sake of it.
Third, keep improving how we structure investment decisions for clients. Most of the market still pushes products. We don’t.
What’s your biggest business concern right now?
Keeping standards high in a market that increasingly rewards visibility over substance. There’s a growing disconnect between what investors see online and what actually holds up in practice.
A lot of decisions are being influenced by SEO content, some webinars, forums, and simplified narratives that don’t reflect the reality of the investment itself.
The challenge is not growth. It’s scaling without lowering the bar, while operating in an environment where noise often gets more attention than real expertise.
Which book is on your nightstand right now?
I tend to jump between very different things. Machiavelli and Marcus Aurelius are always relevant, especially around power, discipline, and decision-making.
Then on the other side, Bukowski or Bret Easton Ellis, which bring a completely different perspective on reality and human behaviour. That mix probably says more about how I think than any single book.
How and when did you first get into the investment migration industry?
I got into it in 2012, and after realising that most investors were being pushed into decisions rather than properly advised.
There was a clear gap between what people needed and what they were getting. That hasn’t really changed, which is why the positioning of MFG Consultants still makes sense today.
What was your proudest moment as a service provider?
Luckily, it’s not one moment, but a recurring one.
When a client tells you they feel in control of the decision. Not sold, not rushed, not confused. Just clear. In this industry, that’s not as common as it should be.
Which investment migration market development has surprised you the most in the last year?
The speed at which low-quality information has gained influence.
Platforms like Reddit or SEO-driven websites now shape a significant part of investor perception, even when the underlying information is incomplete or simply wrong.
What’s surprising is not that this content exists, but how often it outweighs actual on-the-ground expertise. That creates a distorted view of the market and, in many cases, leads to poor investment decisions.
If you could go ten years back in time, what business decision would you change?
I would have gone international earlier. The demand was already there, but the market wasn’t as structured, and I probably underestimated how fast it would evolve.
That said, timing also shapes how you build things, so I wouldn’t change everything.
What investment migration industry personality do you most admire?
I don’t tend to follow personalities.
This is a space where visibility can be misleading, and where strong marketing often replaces real substance.
I have more respect for operators who stay relatively under the radar but understand both the legal and investment side, and can actually execute properly. That combination is still uncommon and ultimately far more relevant than public profile.
If all goes according to plan, what will you be doing five years from now?
Running a more structured, more international version of what we already do, but still very focused on quality and control.
If everything goes well, MFG Consultants will be one of the few firms people associate with clarity and execution in a market that often lacks both.
