The wealth was never abroad. It was under your feet.
Acres of Diamond travels to the countries the world stopped imagining and films the opportunities hidden in plain sight — with the officials opening the doors and the returnees who are already building.
Photo Oswaldo Martinez, Juan Jose Estrada, Juliana Morales Ramírez, Asael Peña, Sergio Rodríguez on Unsplash
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Short narrative films made for the series. The trailer opens Season One.
Film in production
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Acres of Diamond, in thirty seconds
True wealth has always been hidden beneath your feet. A short introduction to the series and the homelands it reveals.
A farmer sold his land to go looking for diamonds.
He crossed the world in search of them and never found one. The man who bought his farm noticed a flash of light in the stream behind the house — and the land he had bought turned out to hold one of the richest diamond mines ever found.
Russell Conwell told that story more than 6,000 times. The point never aged.
Millions of people in the diaspora know their home countries as the place they left, not as the fast-changing markets they have become. Land, agriculture, housing, energy, tourism, logistics: the acres are still there.
- Land
- Agriculture
- Housing
- Energy
- Tourism
- Logistics
We go in person. We meet the ministers and the mayors. We walk the ground with the people who went back and built. Then we film all of it.
Who we are · What we do
A documentary company that films the wealth hiding in plain sight.
Who we are
Acres of Diamond is a documentary media company and a program of Inventors Unleashed. Our name comes from Russell Conwell's celebrated lecture, the story of a farmer who sold his land to search the world for diamonds while the fortune lay in the ground he left behind.
The same is true of many homelands. Diaspora communities from Latin America, Africa, India, and East, Central and West Asia often carry an outdated picture of home. We exist to replace it with a current and accurate one: filmed on the ground, verified, and free to watch.
- For-profit media company
- A program of Inventors Unleashed
- Based in Long Beach, California
- Season One: Latin America
Who we are: a short film
Video coming soonIn the late nineteenth century, Russell Conwell began telling the parable of Ali Hafed, a farmer who sold his land to search the world for diamonds, only for a vast diamond field to be found on the very farm he had left. Conwell delivered the lecture more than 6,000 times, and its proceeds helped found Temple University in Philadelphia.
Acres of Diamond carries that idea to the world's diasporas. Millions of families build their futures abroad while their homelands change quietly: new roads and ports, new industries, and new laws that welcome investment. We document that change so that those who left can see it with their own eyes.
Our mission
To help every country recognise the wealth and beauty of its homeland, and to welcome its diaspora back with the knowledge to develop the opportunities hidden there.
Our vision
A world in which leaving home is a choice, returning home is a plan, and the opportunities of every homeland are visible to those best placed to develop them.
Truth on the ground
We film only what we have seen in person and verified against public sources.
Independence
Sponsors support our work; they never purchase our conclusions.
Consent and dignity
No one appears in our films without written consent, and every country is portrayed with respect.
Usefulness
Each episode should leave viewers with something they can act on: a sector, a contact, a next step.
Inventors Unleashed
Our parent program, a network that champions inventors and producers across the developing world.
Human Investments
Our sister program, which finances ventures that turn local raw materials into finished products.
Acres of Diamond
The storytelling arm of the family: we reveal the opportunity, and our partners help turn it into enterprise.
What we do
What we do: a short film
Video coming soonWho we serve
Diaspora families
An honest, current picture of home, free to watch on YouTube in English, Spanish and French.
Governments and investment agencies
A credible international platform to present their country, their sectors and their incentives to audiences abroad.
Sponsors and investors
Early sight of verified opportunities, filmed interviews with decision-makers, and organised investor visits.
Returnees
A respected stage to share what they built, and to encourage others who are considering the journey home.
Where we film
Season One begins in Latin America. Future seasons are planned in Africa, India, and East, Central and West Asia.
What we will never do
- Present an opportunity as investment advice or a solicitation.
- Publish anyone's story without their written consent.
- Allow a sponsor to change a finding or a figure.
- Describe a place we have not visited ourselves.
Our promise: we film what is there, we verify what we publish, and we let the homeland speak for itself.
We travel and film on the ground
- We meet ministers, national investment agencies, chambers of commerce and municipal leaders where the decisions are made.
- Each visit becomes a Country Spotlight episode of 25 to 35 minutes, with filmed interviews that partners may reuse.
- We walk the ground ourselves before anything is published: the land, the ports, the farms and the projects we describe.
We tell the stories of those who returned
- Our series The Ones Who Returned gives each returnee 15 to 20 minutes to explain what worked, what did not, and what they would do differently.
- Stories come from returnees across Latin America, Africa, India, and East, Central and West Asia.
- Nothing is published without the written consent of the person filmed.
We reveal opportunities others overlook
- Hidden in Plain Sight presents one overlooked opportunity per country in 10 to 12 minutes.
- Every figure we cite is checked against a public source, such as the Inter-American Development Bank, ECLAC or IOM.
- We describe opportunities; we do not sell them. Our content is never investment advice or a solicitation.
We connect governments, sponsors and investors
- Governments and investment agencies commission country episodes, interviews and reusable footage.
- Sponsors support episodes, brand integrations and organised investor trips, under published rules of editorial independence.
- Our sister program, Human Investments, finances ventures that turn local raw materials into finished products.
By the numbers
The wealth is already moving. The question is where it lands.
Money, people and investment already flow between the diaspora and the region. These are the figures behind the series.
US$161 billion
in remittances sent home to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024 — an estimated 5% more than in 2023.
Source: Inter-American Development Bank, 2024 estimate
Photo Rombo on Unsplash
25 million+
migrants from Latin America and the Caribbean were living in Northern America in 2020; a further 5 million lived in Europe.
Source: IOM, World Migration Report 2024
Photo Shoham Avisrur on Unsplash
US$189 billion
in foreign direct investment flowed into Latin America and the Caribbean in 2024, up 7.1% on the year before.
Source: ECLAC, July 2025
Photo hayleigh b on Unsplash
Three formats, one question: what is actually there?
How an episode is madeCountry Spotlight
Sit-down interviews with investment-promotion agencies, ministers and mayors: the sectors opening up, the incentives on offer, and the numbers behind them.
25–35min
The Ones Who Returned
Members of the diaspora who moved home and built farms, factories, clinics and hotels — what worked, and what nearly broke them.
15–20min
Hidden in Plain Sight
One overlooked opportunity per country: the gap in the market, the cost of entry, and who is positioned to take it.
10–12min
How an episode is made
Read the full methodWe go in person. We meet the ministers and the mayors. We walk the ground with the people who went back and built. Then we film all of it.
First stop: Latin America
Short flights from Los Angeles, large diaspora communities, and governments ready to talk.
Episode pipeline
- Planned
- Scouting
- In production
- Released
Dashed route: planned · dotted route: scouting · solid route: in production or released
| Country | From LAX (great-circle) | Status | Filming base | Sectors in focus |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| El SalvadorOpen the dossier | ≈ 3,730 km / 2,320 miLAX → SAL | PlannedEpisode 1 | San Salvador | Tourism and the surf economy; digital services; the changed security landscape, seen firsthand |
| GuatemalaOpen the dossier | ≈ 3,530 km / 2,190 miLAX → GUA | PlannedEpisode 2 | Guatemala City | Agro-processing; textiles and apparel; programmes receiving returning citizens |
| ColombiaOpen the dossier | ≈ 5,600 km / 3,480 miLAX → BOG | Scouting | Bogotá & Medellín | Coffee and cacao; Medellín’s technology sector; tourism corridors |
| Dominican RepublicOpen the dossier | ≈ 5,110 km / 3,170 miLAX → SDQ | Scouting | Santo Domingo | Free zones and nearshoring; construction; hospitality |
| MexicoOpen the dossier | ≈ 2,500 km / 1,550 miLAX → MEX | Scouting | Jalisco & Guanajuato | Manufacturing corridors; agri-exports; return migration and the businesses it brings home |
Agencies are named as each country’s official investment-promotion body. Their appearance on this site does not imply a partnership; none exists until it is agreed in writing.
Photo Briana Tozour on Unsplash
Did you go home and build something?
The Ones Who Returned is built on first-hand accounts: the capital, the permits, the partners and the setbacks. If you moved back and started a farm, a factory, a clinic or a business — or tried to — we would like to hear it. Nothing is published without your written consent.
Two ways to be part of it
For governments and investment agencies
A documentary platform that shows your country to the people most likely to invest in it: those who already call it home.
- A dedicated Country Spotlight episode
- Interviews with your leadership, filmed on your own ground
- Sector deep-dives with real figures and incentives
- Footage you can reuse on your own channels
For sponsors
Reach a diaspora audience at the moment it is thinking about home — and about what to build there.
- Season and episode sponsorships
- Brand integration for diaspora-serving businesses: remittances, airlines, telecoms and diaspora banks
- Briefings on the opportunities featured in each episode
- Curated investor trips as the series grows
Your acres are waiting. Come see them with us.
The channel launches with Episode 1, from El Salvador. Write to us and we will tell you the day it airs.