Chowdeck taps Bolt manager to lead Ghana expansion

Chowdeck, the YC-backed Nigerian food delivery startup, has hired Henry Whyte, Bolt Ghana’s senior operations manager, to lead its Ghana operations, marking a key step in its international expansion. This hiring comes 10 months after the company tapped another senior manager at Bolt, Umar Nas’ir, to head its Nigerian operations. 

A spokesperson for Bolt confirmed Whyte’s move to Chowdeck but declined to comment on his exit from Bolt. Chowdeck did not respond to requests for comment.

Whyte has been Bolt Ghana’s senior operations manager since November 2021, according to his LinkedIn profile.  He joined Bolt as a customer support specialist in 2018 and rose through the ranks to become operations manager in 2020. He now leads Chowdeck’s expansion into Accra, where it will compete with Bolt Food for market share. 

Umar Nas’ir, hired in July 2024 to head Chowdeck’s Nigerian operations, previously led Bolt Nigeria across 20+ cities, according to his LinkedIn profile. 

Whyte and Nas’ir’s combined 13 years of experience at Bolt will be valuable to Chowdeck’s ambitions to go beyond food delivery; the startup also operates an asset-light last-mile logistics service, which Bolt has been doing for years in Ghana and Nigeria. 

This isn’t the first time Chowdeck has tapped rival talent for leadership roles. The company’s expansion lead, Michael Toyinbo, joined in 2023 from Jumia Nigeria, where he headed planning and performance.