Jay van der Walt started a business in his father’s garage, producing silicon GPS mounting brackets for “hard enduro”, a brutal off-road motorsport that is likened to hiking up a mountain with a motorcycle.

According to Businessinsider, Van der Walt combined his knowledge of enduro racing and his passion to work for himself, and so produced the J-Mount.  

After realising the need for the product, he designed the initial mould and then had it 3D-printed in plastic using a family friend’s printer.  He tested it and then created 30 additional pre-production units – all of which sold out on the first day of the 2017 Roof of Africa bronze class event.

I’d seen Graham Jarvis [a British rider, considered to be one of the world’s best] cut out holes in his handlebar foam and secure the GPS units in the cut-out using wire and duct tape. But I thought there must be a better solution

Jay van der Walt

Since then, Van der Walt has ramped up production, moving production over to India to meet high demands, redesigned the whole product to improve the manufacturing process, and made sure the new and improved J-Mount is patented.

From his garage to the world, this youth South African’s business is still only starting its journey. J-Mount’s next goal is to expand the product range beyond enduro by producing products that cater for adventure motorcycling, canoeing and even mountain biking.