microcredit

:  credit in the form of microloans provided to impoverished individuals and groups The motivation for the continued expansion of microcredit … is the presumption that expanding credit access is a relatively efficient way to fight poverty and promote growth. — Dean Karlan et al., Science, 10 June 2011 Grameen pioneered the concept of microcredit, the granting of small loans to people who otherwise would have no access to money to run a business. — Sue Halpern, The New York Review Of Books, 19 Nov. 2009