About Acres of Diamond

The lecture behind the name

Photo Andres Ch Mendez on Unsplash

Russell H. Conwell (1843–1925) was a lawyer, a Civil War veteran and, later, a Baptist minister in Philadelphia. As a young man travelling in the Middle East, he heard a story from a guide that he would retell for the rest of his life.

In Conwell’s telling, a prosperous farmer named Ali Hafed heard about diamonds and could think of nothing else. He sold his farm, left his family in the care of a neighbour and searched across continents until his money and his hope ran out. Meanwhile, the man who had bought his land led his camel to drink in the garden stream and noticed a flash of light in the white sand. It was a diamond. The farm Ali Hafed had sold became, in the story, the diamond mine of Golconda.

Conwell delivered the lecture, “Acres of Diamonds”, more than 6,000 times. He devoted the proceeds to helping working people gain an education — the effort that grew into Temple University in Philadelphia.

His point was simple: the opportunity you are looking for may be under your own feet.

What we do

Acres of Diamond travels to diaspora home countries, films the officials responsible for attracting investment and the returnees who built businesses there, and publishes what it finds as a free series on YouTube.

Our aim is to replace an outdated picture of home with an accurate, current one — and to give the diaspora the information it needs to judge the opportunity for itself.

Why a company, not a charity

We are a for-profit media company because the work should pay for itself. Sponsorship and partnerships fund the crew, the travel and the fact-checking, and a sustainable business can return to the same countries season after season and follow stories over time.

Being commercial makes our independence rules more important, not less. They are published on our partners page and apply to every agreement we sign.