microfinance

:  financial services especially in the form of microloans provided to impoverished individuals and groups in poor and developing regions :  the financial activities associated with microcredit Hundreds of millions of dollars are flowing into microfinance from international financial institutions, foundations, governments, and, most important, private investors—who increasingly see microfinance as a potentially profitable business venture. — Karol Boudreaux et al., The Wilson Quarterly, Winter 2008 Muhammad Yunus starts lending money to the rural poor in Bangladesh. His Grameen Bank kicks off a worldwide movement in microfinance as lenders start to see poor people, especially women, not as bad credit risks but as profitable customers. — Barbara Kiviat, Time, 11 Aug. 2008