Chowdeck, one of Nigeria’s leading food delivery startups, shared its plan to expand to other African countries at the 2024 edition of Moonshot. The company’s first international foray will be to Ghana, and it may launch there as soon as March, one person familiar with the matter told . The four-year-old company, which claims to have reached one million users and ₦30 billion in transactions in 2024, aims to reach about 52 cities across Nigeria and internationally by year’s end, according to a person familiar with the business.
“Chowdeck wants all of Africa,” said a person close to the business, who declined to be named as they are not authorised to speak for the company. CEO Femi Aluko has hinted at these pan-African ambitions, stating in a recent interview that the company’s vision is to become the dominant “super app” for ordering anything, anywhere in Africa.
Starting with just 319 users in its first month (October 2021), Chowdeck has rapidly expanded within Nigeria. Beyond food delivery, the company has diversified to include retailers of essential items like pharmaceuticals, shopping mall goods, and market produce, and earned a reputation for quick delivery. Chowdeck, which has over 10,000 delivery riders, operates in major Nigerian cities like Lagos, Ibadan, Port Harcourt, and Abuja. In February, the company began operations in Owerri, Enugu and Kaduna. However, Lagos remains its biggest market.
Ghana presents an opportunity to replicate Chowdeck’s Lagos success. While the specific launch city in Ghana remains undisclosed, the company will face a competitive landscape. Urban cities like Accra, Tema, and Kumasi already host established players like Uber Eats and Bolt Food.
Ghana’s market dynamics are both promising and challenging. The country boasts a growing, tech-savvy urban youth population and a projected food delivery market of $540.1 million by 2029, with a 16.66% annual growth rate. However, Ghana has also seen the exit of other delivery services.
Glovo, despite reporting strong early growth in Accra (reaching “half a million euros” in monthly order value and 30-45% month-on-month growth), exited Ghana in 2024 after investing nearly $3.7 million in the expansion. Jumia Food also shuttered its Ghana operations in early 2023 as part of a broader restructuring.
Chowdeck did not respond to a request for comments.
Reports suggest that high taxes, low wages, and high inflation present ongoing challenges to Ghana’s food delivery ecosystem. However, the country has remained attractive to established food delivery businesses like Uber Eats and Bolt Food from whom Chowdeck will face stiff competition when it launches.
