It really seemed the stuff of fairy tales when the program 60 Minutes told the story of how Fogo Island Inn, on a remote island off Newfoundland on Canada’s east coast, came to be. An islander (Zita Cobb) who got an education, headed off to Silicon Valley, made a fortune, and came back home to invest it in making life better at home.

It is not an unusual story in some senses. That’s what a lot of people from other countries who come to work in the US and send their remittances home, aim to do – make life better at home. But what seems extraordinary to me, at any rate, is how effectively Fogo Island has applied the kind of asset-based community development principles that I’ve used in work internationally. Just like you can see a label on food and beverages you buy, you can find something called an “Economic Nutrition” label on the Fogo Island Inn website.