Muhammad Yunus, who developed the idea of microfinance and later founded the Grameen Bank [1], is the 2006 winner [2] of the Nobel Peace Prize [3]. It is not his first peace prize [3]. The Wikipedia entry [4] is already updated to reflect today’s news; I suspect the mainstream media will be saturated with coverage over the next few days.

I’m thrilled to see a pioneer like Yunus receive an award of this caliber; it will probably mainstream microfinance in a way that we’ve never before seen. Maybe now the press will stop its often cookie-cutter coverage [4] of the topic, and instead focus on more cutting-edge news. How about stories on interest rate caps [4], the underserved gap [4] between microfinance and venture capital, and the role informality [5] plays in keeping businesses micro, just for starters?

Regardless of how this story is covered, however, it can only be a good thing. Congratulations to Dr. Yunus and the Grameen Bank, and to all the people working hard every day to bring financial services to the BOP.