Finance

RESPONSIBLE CREDIT CAN LIBERATE A NATION’S WOMEN

At least 40% of mothers in South Africa are single parents, and only 25% of children in this country are part of a nuclear family.

The reality of these statistics is that many women have to make ends meet on their own, often without any contribution from the fathers of their children. Government grants, help from family members and working more than one job help to fill the gap, but so can credit – a resource that is often overlooked.

“Woman puts her daughter through university by using credit cleverly.” This is not a headline we have seen before, and more’s the pity, as this real-life story illustrates.

When 18-year-old Pumzile Ndlovu announced that she wanted to go to university – and had achieved the marks to secure a place – her mother despaired. Without a husband and living a simple life in Eastern Cape, her options for funding her daughter’s studies were limited. Soon, however, Ms Ndlovu’s innate resourcefulness suggested a solution.

Over the next three years, Ms Ndlovu took out a series of loans from her trusted credit provider “Ms Ndlovu secured a future for her daughter and gave her a further head start by enabling her to start her career. She could do this, because she understood that when credit is geared towards a specific goal and managed well, it can change lives.”

to pay for tuition, books and accommodation. “I remember how cleverly she managed those loans,” says Phumzile, “always making sure that she paid her dues so that she would not lose her line of credit. That’s how I got through varsity.”

According to Alfred Ramosedi, CEO of Bayport South Africa, stories like these highlight the power of responsible credit combined with financial literacy. “Ms Ndlovu secured a future for her daughter and gave her a further head start by enabling her to start her career. She could do this, because she understood that when credit is geared towards a specific goal and managed well, it can change lives.”

Sadly, in the context of South Africa’s overindebtedness crisis, credit is more often painted as the cause of the problem, than a potentially powerful solution. “When people understand how to leverage credit to achieve their ambitions, the impact is immense,” says Ramosedi. “For women in particular, the right credit at the right time can bring about a step change and liberate them from the limits imposed by single parenthood.”

Given South Africa’s family statistics, such liberation is also an act of nation building.

The financial wellness partner

of employed South Africans

Bayport South Africa has been issuing unsecured longterm loans to South Africans since 2004. Our goal to create a transformed financial services company that helps to bring about economic empowerment and transformation in South Africa was realised in 2017 when a black-owned consortium acquired 51% ownership of Bayport South Africa. The Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF) has a 35.7% shareholding and a black-owned South African strategic investment partner 15.3%.

Pursuing a business model that brings financial wellness within reach of employed South Africans was the next logical step. In 2019 we launched Bayport Money Solutions – a corporate financial wellness programme that combines practical debt relief assistance and financial literacy.

Financial distress is not only a personal or family dilemma; it has a direct impact on employers and on the national economy. Employees who are caught in a debilitating debt trap are less healthy, less attentive and less productive – thus contributing less to the economy. Bayport Money Solutions addresses all these issues while giving employees the means to achieve lasting personal economic transformation.

Bayport has partnered with over 40 private and public sector employers over the past year to offer the Bayport Money Solutions programme to their workforce. The success of the programme rests on the partnership between Bayport and employers, which allows us to pass on the benefit of the reduced cost of risk to their employees, our customers. Through this, and our ability and willingness to extend high-value, long-term credit to individuals that would not generally qualify for credit in the open market, employees can immediately increase their monthly take-home pay, reduce their overall debt burden and, over time, improve their credit profile.

Ms Ndlovu secured a future for her daughter and gave her a further head start by enabling her to start her career. She could do this, because she understood that when Contact us corporate@bayport.co.za credit is geared towards a specific www.bayportsa.com goal and managed well, it can Bayport SA @Bayport_SA @BayportZA change lives.

The impact of this approach is evident in numerous customer testimonials. Here is an SMS we received recently:

Tonight I’m sleeping again in my own house with my family. It is like I am dreaming. For a long time I slept in a municipality truck while I was running away from the loan sharks. Now I am in control of my debt.

Having learned that once-off assistance does not suffice to break bad money habits, a critical part of our offering is financial literacy that includes regular free credit health reports, wellness days, financial literacy training, digital access to financial literacy information and, if required, on-site or online access to financial coaches. Our belief that financial inclusion, practical solutions and financial literacy are the keys to personal economic transformation is evident in all we do.