What is this?  Another blog entry where I tell you how famous Kiva has become?  Well, sort of.

This week is the Clinton Global Initiative, a mecca of sorts for philanthropy in the US.  Premal, a co-conspirator and Intl micro-financier at large, was given the honor of speaking for the second year in a row.  I couldn't think of a better person to do it.  Nobody can convey the message of Internet micro-lending with the passion, sincerity and intelligence that Premal carries on his person (in addition to his blackberry)

Thanks, in part, to Premal, we are being hit with a new deluge of lenders, loans and enthusiasm.  A big thanks goes to President Clinton himself, who has unexpectedly become a spokesman for Kiva as well.

Mr. Clinton, do you read blogs?  If you do read this..."Thanks".  It's not just me thanking you;  there are thousands of entrepreneurs in the developing world for years to come who will have you to thank.  You have taken this cause to a new level.  Of all things you could have devoted your post-presidency to, you chose philanthropy.  And you are not just posturing either, you are serious and we can see that.  Kiva will widen its sails to catch the wind you have created. 

Read on.  This, from a recent interview with the President on MSN. 

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21020060/page/2/

CLINTON:  Well, I can just give you an example of that — we can all be micro-bankers now thanks to a little Web site called kiva.org, which made its introduction here last year.

They came here for the first time.  And one of the people who followed us on the Internet, of the 48,000 people, several hundred of them made their own commitment.  One of them said, I’m going to loan $25 to somebody in Africa to start a business or expand a business.

When I featured them in my book and then went on “The Oprah Winfrey Show” and she brought them there, within three days, all of the people in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Afghanistan, every one of their businesspeople was fully funded within three days by people giving between $25 and $200.

It was amazing.  So now they all will get reports and when their loans are paid back, they can keep them or turn around and lend them again.  These are the kind of ideas that are circulating in the world.  And we can increase the visibility of the good idea.

And people, even with a very modest amount of money can have a huge impact.  Just think about it.  You and I could become bankers to people and we could monitor their progress and people in their neighborhoods will see and they will look for micro-loans, they have their own ideas, so we can give them a chance to raise their kids with dignity, send their kids to school, and in troubled places like Afghanistan, we marginally increase the chance that peace can prevail because people will see there is a positive alternative to conflict.