Gbenro Dara

Product Leader. Operator. Founder. AI Builder.

Product and AI leader building fintech and insurance infrastructure for emerging markets, from embedded insurance to autonomous agent systems.

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Companies

Full history

Octamile

Co-founder & CEO

2021 to Present

Building embedded insurance infrastructure for Africa. $500k pre-seed (EchoVC-led). 30+ B2C business clients. Covers ~10% of Nigerian insurance providers.

OList / Opera

Managing Director

2019 to 2021

Led growth to 1M+ seller accounts and 4M monthly users. Built the largest online classifieds platform in Nigeria under Opera.

Cheki Nigeria

CEO

2018 to 2019

Led company turnaround and eventual acquisition. Built team and product capabilities in the competitive automotive classifieds market.

Speaking

Available for keynotes, panels, and podcast conversations on AI, insurtech, and building in emerging markets.

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Topics

  • AI and the future of insurance
  • Embedded insurance infrastructure
  • Building startups in frontier markets
  • The African technology ecosystem
  • Operator playbooks: scaling without shortcuts
  • Digital infrastructure for the next billion

Past Appearances

  • DIVE In Festival 2024 · Global
  • Insurance Meets Tech · Nigeria
  • Norrsken Impact Week '23 · Stockholm

As Featured In

All coverage
TechCabalTechPoint AfricaZawyaIBS IntelligenceDisrupt AfricaThe Ouut Media
TechCabal

Future-Proofing SMEs: PayCover by Octamile

SONR Global

Gbenro Dara — Octamile

The Ouut Media

Gbenro Dara's Insurtech startup, Octamile, is enabling insurance access to every social class

TechCabal

TechCabal Daily — Going the Octa-mile

Occasional essays

On AI, insurance, building in Africa, and what I'm learning. No cadence promises. Only when I have something worth saying.