Bayport Management, an emerging market financial services group, has closed a $250m senior debt facility with the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), the US government’s development finance institution.

Stuart Stone, Co-founder and joint CEO of Bayport Management, said: “We regard the OPIC funding as a way to help more people start businesses, educate themselves and their children, and invest in their futures.”

“To us, the funding signifies an endorsement of both Bayport’s strategy and the US’s commitment to empowering developing countries to design their own solutions and growth trajectories,” he said.

The Bayport group of companies provides financial solutions to formally and informally employed individuals in emerging markets who are at the lower end of the earnings spectrum and unable to access traditional banking services.

Bayport Management Ltd is the holding company of 10 subsidiaries operating in 9 countries, Botswana, Colombia, Ghana, Mozambique, Mexico, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia.

The long-term loan will support the group’s financial inclusion and growth agenda across its operations.

Under the terms of the agreement, OPIC will provide financing in the form of long term debt that will enable Bayport to fund its strategic growth aspirations in Africa and Latin America, which includes organic expansion in existing countries and the development of a broader range of financial solutions in those markets.

All of this activity will be underpinned by a custom-built new technology platform that is being developed in-house.

Bayport delivers on its developmental objectives by making a broad spectrum of financial services accessible to people generally excluded from traditional banking and other life enhancing financial products.

Its Ghanaian operation, for example, is innovating through product development initiatives in the deposit taking, investment and mobile banking arenas.

Bayport’s “My Money” product offering in Ghana is a low-cost bank account that enables customers to save, transact, obtain insurance and gain access to credit.

Bayport Micro provides self-employed traders in Ghana access to savings and long-term investment accounts, as well as access to credit in the form of individual or group loans.

Elizabeth Littlefield, president and CEO of OPIC, said: “Bayport has demonstrated results across the developing world and earned the first Smart Campaign accreditation in Africa, making it an ideal partner for OPIC.”

“By bringing inclusive finance to wage-earners who would otherwise lack access to reliable credit, the Bayport model propels emerging economies forward. With typical loan sizes in Bayport’s portfolio averaging less than $5,000, OPIC’s $250 million of support will have an outsized development impact, reaching tens of thousands of borrowers across Africa and Latin America,” she said.