The Nobel committe got it right this year.  Dr. Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank and one of the fathers of microcredit won the Nobel Peace Prize.

I had the chance to meet Mohammad Yunus on several occasions, the most significant was a week spent in Dhaka, Bangladesh at the Grameen headquarters.  I am on the Unitus board and we had travelled to Bangladesh to learn from Mohammad Yunus.  He was kind enough to allow us access to himself and his organization.  At the end of the week, we asked him how he thought Unitus could contribute.  Specifically we asked him, "If we could access $100 million, what would be the best way to help the poor?"  Dr. Yunus suggested that Unitus become an accelerator or a catalyst to help more MicroFinance institutions become sustainable and profitable, by helping them with access to capital, equity, grants, and capacity building technical assistance.  If you look at what Unitus does today, we find we have become what Dr. Yunus suggested we do.

At the end of the week, in January 2001, I wrote down my thoughts about Mohammad Yunus and about Grameen bank.  My final paragraph turned out to be prophetic:

I could easily see Mohammed Yunus being the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize someday. It was an experience I will greatly cherish.