Jessica Medza Allogo is at the founder of of “Les Pots de l’Ogooue”, a Gabonese confectionery that produces jams made from local fruits in fond in her home country of Gabon. Before starting her business, Jessica worked for 10 years in the petroleum sector in Gabon and Asia where she acquired solid knowledge in process management and in quality management.
After returning from a long stint in Myanmar for work, a friend who knew about her love for fruit gave her a 40 kg crate of mangoes to take back to Gabon. Upon arrival, most of the mangoes were already ripe and not wanting to through them away she came up with the idea of making jams. She looked for recipes on the internet and within a few months she was creating jams for her family and loved ones. This continued until one of her family members suggested that she start selling her jams. She took on the advice and participated in a trade fair and to her surprise she sold out.
In 2016, she decided to hang up her engineering apron at Total to put on that of a gourmet entrepreneur when she officially founded Les Petits Pots de l’Ogooué a line of gourmet jams, based in Gabon: Les Petits Pots de l’Ogooué. In creating her recipes, Jessica draws on her travel experiences to create moments of escape. She selects precious ingredients from around the world to create delicious jams that highlight culture. When she’s not in her lab creating a new recipes, she takes care of her 5-year-old son
and inspires him to follow his dreams with courage and determination. Since completing the TEF Programme, Since then, Jessica has managed to sell nearly 14,000 jars of jams and generate over $105,000 in revenue (note: could be more as of 2020).