Team Details

Umar Ahmed

Co-Founder & Partner at Chelsea Shipping

Umar’s journey into entrepreneurship began with a deep passion for community and innovation. His first job was with an NGO in the Maldives, where he worked on projects that supported the local community in collaboration with several international NGOs. This experience shaped his values around people-first work and global partnerships.

Later, he moved into the IT field and started exploring e-commerce as a side hustle — selling products online and gaining firsthand insight into digital platforms and buyer behavior. With nearly a decade of experience in the resort industry that followed, Umar developed a strong foundation in service, logistics, and operational flow.

Business had always been in the back of his mind. When Chelsea launched her first OEM-labeled product, Umar was part of that journey — navigating the ups and downs of product development, international sourcing, and partnership dynamics. These early challenges taught them both valuable lessons and revealed a bigger issue: sourcing from China was harder than it needed to be.

That’s when Umar and Chelsea co-founded Chelsea Shipping — a company built to support others like themselves, offering trustworthy, efficient, and transparent product sourcing and export solutions, especially for small businesses looking to grow globally.