microfinancen.
/ˈmʌɪkrəʊˌfʌɪnans/, /ˈmʌɪkrəʊfʌɪˌnans/, /ˈmʌɪkrəʊfᵻˌnans/, U.S. /ˈmaɪkroʊˌfaɪˌnæns/, /ˈmaɪkroʊfᵻˌnæns/ Economics and Finance.
1. The financial activities or operations of an individual company, firm, or enterprise.
ΚΠ
1963 E. F. Donaldson & J. K. Pfahl Corporate Finance (ed. 2) i. 14 Macro finance deals with the over-all financial effects on society and micro finance with financial problems of the individual economic unit.
1981 Financial Managem. 10 ii. 25/2 The great financial insights of the future would be focused closer to the firm in what might be called ‘micro-finance’.
1991 Jrnl. Finance 46 1120 Dissertation research has been very much focused on issues in microfinance this past decade (microportfolio theory.., firm level investment-financing strategies, etc.).
2. The provision of loans and other financial services to low-income individuals and communities for the creation of small businesses, typically in the developing world, esp. as part of a programme intended to stimulate the local economy and raise standards of living. Frequently as a modifier, as in microfinance institution, microfinance sector, etc. Cf. microlending n.; microcredit n. at micro- comb. form 1b(b).
ΚΠ
1994 L. Webster Viewpoint: Lending for Microenterprises (World Bank FPD note no. 23) 30 Sept. 1/2 in documents.worldbank.org Micro-finance can reduce poverty.
2006 Wall St. Jrnl. 15 May (Central ed.) a12/5 ICICI Bank teams up with about 100 microfinance institutions, through which it plans to hand out loans and sell insurance.
2017 R. Ajwani-Ramchandani Role Microfinance in Women's Empowerm. i. 11 The southern part of India continues to be the hub of microfinance activity.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2019; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1963