Shorefast: A Strange and Familiar Way to Reimagine Capitalism

In 2006, Zita Cobb and two of her brothers, Alan Cobb and Tony Cobb, native Newfoundlanders, launched Shorefast to help grow another leg of Fogo Island's economy. Like so many rural communities, Fogo Island's fate was tied directly to one primary resource-in this case cod. For centuries, Fogo Islanders made their living by fishing and trading cod, but by 1992, the Canadian government put a moratorium on the limited stocks left, forcing many rural Newfoundlanders and Labradorians to move to larger centers in search of new employment. Shorefast is a non-profit organization that has explored ways to catalyze economic development on Fogo Island through intentional place-making. Through Shorefast's experience of launching the Fogo Island Inn, in 2019 the co-founders of Shorefast are wondering how they can use their experience to inform a global conversations about sustainability and place-based economies that can help reimagine capitalism.