Selling your ships to your friends, or donating your credits to a friend.

[Lestat]

The thing is, you can get from the sidey to an Eagle in less than an hour, from that to a Viper or Cobra in only a couple more (If you want to change that is). From then on (well really the Eagle onwards) the game becomes fun, hell even that little sidey is a good laugh once upgraded.

Your friend would be better off working his way up the ship ladder with your company rather than your money.

I went to a sidewinder to a cobra in a hour. A Asp explorer in 2 hours. So it not that hard to do.