Bayport Financial Services’ first virtual branch has partnered with a local community centre in Heidelberg in a pilot project which is providing job opportunities to nine destitute individuals.

Bayport’s virtual branches, staffed by mobile agents, build on the company’s national infrastructure and are becoming an increasingly important part of Bayport’s sales effort. The combination of growth in virtual branches with an existing relationship with the Lesedi Community Centre in Heidelberg, has resulted in nine individuals being hand-picked to join Bayport’s mobile agent network.

Each of the nine will go through a process of on-boarding and training and will be provided with equipment and marketing collateral to ensure they are fully equipped to generate an income by providing credit health and debt management solutions to the community.

According to Bayport COO, John White, Bayport has supported the local community for the last two years by sponsoring local events, but realised there was an opportunity to increase its support by recruiting potential staff.

“Financial wellness is at the heart of our operations, and this initiative allows us to enhance our support of the Heidelberg community, empower unemployed, capable individuals to rebuild their lives by giving them tangible opportunities to earn a sustainable income and extends our ethos of making a difference in the communities in which we operate,” White says.

Bayport chose to partner with the Lesedi Community Centre, a non-profit organisation that focuses on the upliftment of the community in and around Heidelberg, as it places emphasis on feeding, housing, uplifting and training the poor and destitute in the community to again make a meaningful contribution to society, giving them a second chance. The centre is also involved in various community projects and spiritual upliftment. The Lesedi Community Centre started in 2012 as a feeding scheme and since then has grown into an organisation that facilitates skills development, substance abuse rehabilitation programmes via SANCA and the services a shelter which accommodates up to 68 persons.

Bayport’s network of mobile agents has grown to over 3000 countrywide in the last year, illustrating the need for agents to interact with communities in their places of work and leisure, while providing valuable financial wellness and financial solutions to South African consumers.

Bayport Financial Services is one of the largest non-bank credit providers of unsecured loans in South Africa and offers both personal loans and insurance products. It is a registered credit and developmental credit provider under the National Credit Act, and an authorised financial services provider, registered with the Financial Services Board. Its unsecured credit and debt solutions are accessible through the bayportsa.com website and Bayport mobile apps, call centre, branches across the country and through its mobile agents.