There is a certain smile that comes with talking about childhood memories.

For Papi Maloane, it appears when he talks about biltong and, more importantly, about the mother who kept feeding his love for it.

When they travelled, his mother would buy him biltong. It was probably just a small treat to her, something to make her little boy happy along the way, but for Maloane, those packets of biltong became part of a love that would stay with him long after those childhood trips. “I had a love of biltong. My mom used to buy me biltong every time we travelled,” he said.

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There is something almost childlike in the way Maloane speaks about those memories, especially knowing where that love eventually took him. As he grew older, biltong remained one of the things that caught his attention wherever he went.

He began noticing that the same product could taste completely different depending on where it came from. “It is the same product, but some are very salty. I then became curious about how to make it better.”

That curiosity eventually became experimentation, and the experimentation became a business he named Maloane Foods. “These things started in our kitchen. We took a lot of trial and error to be able to come up with our base, our traditional system,” he said.

Today, the little boy who loved being treated to biltong by his mother is making his own and sharing that love with other people. Maloane said his products are free of preservatives and contain less sodium, while freshness and flavour remain important to him. “I use the feedback from all the biltong lovers alike. That helps me to learn how to make it so that we serve them exactly how they want to be served.”

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For him, the business is not simply something he does on the side. “It is my business. I live out of it,” he said.

Perhaps one of the most special parts of the journey is knowing that his mother, the woman who helped nurture that love without knowing where it would lead, can now see what became of it. “She does not even believe that I have actually made a living out of my love for biltong. She is very proud of me and so supportive.”

Maloane was one of the small businesses invited by citizen relationship and urban management (Crum) during an open day for municipal services at Fourways Mall on September 26, as part of the entity’s efforts to support small businesses.

“It is not every day that someone can just rent out a space in a shopping centre,” said Anna Malatjie from CRUM, “so this is an opportunity for them to say, ‘This is my product, and this is what I do’. The shopping centres offer them free space, so they can showcase their products, get exposure, grow their businesses, network with other businesses, and also have an opportunity to sell some of their products.”

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