The last Nobel winner goes open source
It was Muhammed Yunus (right), whose Grameen Bank has become the leader in micro-finance, tiny loans for poor folk which get them into small businesses.
Through his Grameen Foundation, and with help from IBM, he's now putting the power of open source to work in expanding micro-banking's reach.
The idea is to build on a banking platform called Mifos so it can be used by micro finance institutions (MFIs) around the world, allowing those agencies to contribute to its system's development by adding the custom components they need.
The current product is fairly rudimentary, but they have a product road map, including a Version 2.0 of the Mifos software, which IBM is now supporting.
IBM's support means more than money. It may mean more than software. IBM's participation lends credibility to the project, and may expand the network's reach. Only five MFIs now deploy Mifos. There are over 3,100 worldwide, and only half are computerized.
This is one of those small press releases that can turn into a very big thing indeed.