"Discipline Before Growth": Manish Gupta on Building the Financial Backbone of CHIC

CHIC Talks is a leadership spotlight series featuring the voices behind CHIC’s hotel platform—sharing bold ideas, lessons from the field, and the future of hospitality in Africa.

In the first edition of CHIC Talks, we feature Manish Gupta, the Group CFO of CHIC. With a career spanning two decades across hospitality platforms in Africa and South East Asia & India, Manish brings more than just financial expertise—he brings strategic clarity.

Since joining CHIC in June 2025, Manish has taken on one of the toughest challenges: building scalable systems, enhancing visibility across the portfolio, and aligning financial management with long-term investment priorities. His approach reflects CHIC’s belief that strong hospitality platforms are built on both operational capability and capital discipline.

Manish Gupta

Snapshot:

Name: Manish Gupta

Role: Chief Financial Officer, CHIC

Joined: June 2025

Experience: 20+ years across hospitality platforms in Africa, South East Asia & India

Focus Areas: Financial discipline, forward visibility, capital allocation, growth readiness

Q&A:

Q1: What drew you to CHIC?

A: From my first conversation with the leadership, it was clear that CHIC is not a conventional hotel investor. The ambition here is platform-level. There’s a strong commitment to doing things properly—from controls and governance to long-term value creation.

Q2: What’s been your immediate focus since joining?

A: We’ve focused on strengthening the financial backbone of the business. That means aligning reporting with execution, improving real-time visibility, and reducing reliance on manual interventions.

Q3: How does this improved visibility translate into better outcomes?

A: Visibility brings control. With the right systems and structures, we can anticipate risks, allocate resources more efficiently, and support our teams with data—not just instinct.

Q4: How is CHIC preparing itself to scale beyond the DRC?

A: CHIC’s approach has always been to build deep before building wide. Whether in the DRC or future markets, our job in finance is to enable growth without compromising discipline.

Q5: What defines CHIC’s approach to ownership and capital today?

A: It’s hands-on, structured, and performance-led. CHIC doesn’t just deploy capital—it manages it actively, with a clear lens on return, efficiency, and long-term value.

Q6: Where does sustainability fit in?

A: It shows up in our decisions, not just our messaging—be it in project evaluation, cost controls, or operational resource planning.

CHIC Lens:

At CHIC, financial discipline isn’t just about controls—it’s about unlocking smarter, faster growth. Manish Gupta’s work is a reflection of this philosophy: enable clarity, build confidence, and ensure every decision is anchored in data and long-term impact.