Entrepreneur Gontse Selaocoe wants to see his jam hit retail stores and feature on breakfast menus in restaurants and coffee shops.  

This is what drives the 24-year-old entrepreneur and farmer, whose business All Day Jam operates from a spotless small room next to his grandmother’s tuck shop in their home in Orange Farm, south of Johannesburg.

Selaocoe uses big pots and a gas stove to manufacture the jam.

He said everything he’s able to do was taught to him by his grandmother, Mabel Selaocoe. 

“I grew up eating the jam as my grandma would make it and it tasted so good,” said Selaocoe. 

He said Mabel would give jam to their visitors as a sign of appreciation. 

“You know how old people are, so she would give jam to whoever visited our house whenever they were about to leave.

“I asked her why she couldn’t turn it into a business and she also asked me the same question and I went along with the idea using her processes,” he said.

For his family, planting fruits needed to produce the jam is generational. 

“My grandfather taught me how to farm because he would take me to his garden. 

“I slice the yellow melon like I would a watermelon, I then give it to the person who peels and chops it and removes the seeds. I must cook it and blend it after that. It’s a long and time-consuming process. I must also dissolve some sugar,” he says. 

“The yellow melon had a very positive start. That is the flavour I knew they [customers] liked but now tomato is also selling [fast]. I’m still learning my market. The products sell better in the north because I’ve realised they prefer organic products,” Selaocoe said. 

He says he gets a lot of motivation during events held by strategic creative marketing agency Empowaworx that assists with connecting aspiring entrepreneurs to opportunities with the correct stakeholders.

“It [Empowaworx] benefits those who are focused and business-minded and know how to create opportunities. I am able to promote my product in their events,” he said. 

Throughout his life as a teenage schoolboy, Selaoce wondered whether he should pursue his love for the pantsula dance or whether to study electrical engineering, but he says he was rather bitten by the business bug after finishing matric in 2019. 

“Before starting, I had only R1,000 saved. I had planned to buy a Converse sneaker for I can go and dance because I was getting frustrated sitting at home and doing nothing. But a thought came to mind, I bought 60 plastic bottles and stickers and tomatoes bought from a market, I started the following day,” he said. 

More than three years later, All Day Jam welcomes walk-in and online customers.

As the journey continues, he says marketing his product through social media will be intensified as he wants his product to compete in the market and drive sales.

“I get orders in remote areas and I have to pay a courier service. If I could start at hotels where my brand will be seen during room service, people will get familiar with it,” he said. 

ratsatsik@sowetan.co.za