Bangladeshi Banker Wins Nobel Peace Prize

It's logical that banking practices and world peace are related. Right?

(Dhaka, Bangladesh) Known as the banker for the poor, Muhammad Yunus has devoted the last two decades to building a business by giving tiny loans known as microcredit to impoverished people who could not qualify for loans from conventional lending institutions.

As a result of his achievements, Yunus has been awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize.

From Guardian.co.uk:

Mr Yunus lent the villagers the money to buy their own materials and cut out the middleman. They all paid him back, day by day, over a year, and his impulsive gesture slowly became a fully fledged business with the founding of Grameen Bank in 1983.

"In showing that poor people could be productive and make money he broke with the old mindset that all aid should be about providing services like education and health," said Kevin Watkins, director of the UN human development report office.

Yunus' efforts are credited with allowing millions of people, primarily women, to achieve higher standards of living.

In keeping with his creative and charitable nature, Yunus announced yesterday that he would donate his prize money, about $1.4 million, to "good causes."

Yunus said he would use his share to fund a project to produce low-cost, nutritious food for the poor, an eye hospital, a drinking water project and a health care scheme.

"I will donate all my money to these enterprises. These will be purely social business enterprises, ie not-for-profit organisations," he said.

Congratulations are appropriate.