Bayport Unsecured Credit

Bayport Financial Services was established in 2002 and is domiciled on the island of Mauritius.  Bayport is an unsecured credit provider in five African countries: South Africa, Zambia, Ghana, Uganda and Tanzania.  Bayport’s affordable unsecured credit has changed the face of responsible lending practices in Africa.  Our products are designed specifically for the needs of the people in every country where we operate.

Operations commenced in Uganda in 2005, when Bayport Financial Services Uganda was established.  Initially, Bayport Management Limited (BML) entered into a collaboration with Mr Charles Mbire, who is a prominent businessman in Uganda and a leading promoter of investment.  Establishing a workable unsecured credit model in Uganda proved challenging, considering the uniquely decentralised nature of the country’s civil service payroll system and a historically competitive credit market.  However, through the partnership with several local communities, we have gained a good understanding of the local people’s requirements.  Together with our innovative business model, these factors helped Bayport Uganda flourish and we have taken full advantage of the country’s current robust economic growth.  We are already the leading retail credit provider in Uganda.

Our local involvement and corporate social responsibility programme have seen Bayport get involved with numerous community projects in Uganda, which aim to empower people to help themselves.  Bayport supplied the tracksuits used by the Maroons Football Club of Uganda Prisons and has assisted in aiding flood and landslide victims in Eastern Uganda.  We have run projects in healthcare, business, youth, sports and education.  A Ushs 1,000,000 contribution went to the Mukono Multipurpose Youth Organisation (MUMYO), an NGO that promotes the rights and wellbeing of the youth and alleviate poverty in Uganda’s rural areas.  We have a soft spot for education, because we believe a community should be educated to further themselves; therefore, we contribute to the school fees of orphans and have helped fund projects to start income-generating ventures for AIDS support groups, in collaboration with MUMYO.

Our Tanzanian operations were only established in 2005, but already Bayport leads the specialist unsecured credit provider market in Tanzania, serving the country’s formally employed.  Our Tanzanian partnerships have again played a leading role in our success; local partners include Africa Yetu, National Investments Company Limited and Equal Opportunity for All Trust Fund, together representing the interests of many Tanzanian shareholders.  Our interaction with these local establishments has taught us much about Tanzanians’ requirements and attitudes towards credit, enabling our experienced board to meet the people where they are.

Bayport’s Zambian operations have been running since 2002.  Here, too, we have singled out local partnerships to get to know our market and these partners include the Mineworkers’ Union of Zambia, which focuses on the mining sector in and around the Copper Belt.  We were the first credit provider to offer affordable credit to mineworkers and our initial success soon enabled us to extend our services to the civil service, which proved a big success as well.  We have become a leading financial services company in Zambia with one of the largest infrastructures in the country in the space of six years and we currently serve a variety of multi-national employers, government employees and private sector employees.  Bayport Zambia is ably led by Justin Chola (CEO) and Martha Akapelwa (Executive Director).

Besides offering Zambians affordable, responsible, unsecured credit, Bayport is also extensively involved in community upliftment and development programmes, mainly in the education and primary healthcare domains.  We have financially supported the construction of a new wing of the Zambian National Service New Hospital.  Our education support programmes aim to build capacity and our support of the Teachers’ Union has been ongoing.  We have sponsored sporting day and some non-core curricular activities like the Chipata Festival.  We have also paid the school fees of children’s whose parents do not have the financial means, and orphans’ school fees.  Our extensive support of local healthcare and education in Zambia is rooted in our belief that a society has to be educated and healthy in order to prosper.

Bayport Financial Services makes a difference in thousands of people’s lives every day through its active and continued involvement in its immediate communities.  We have helped thousands of people build a future with Bayport’s unsecured credit availability in Africa.