Press Kit

Gbenro Dara is a technology founder and operator with 14+ years of experience building companies across Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya. He is the Co-founder & CEO of Octamile, building embedded insurance infrastructure for Africa. He was previously MD of OList/Opera and CEO of Cheki Nigeria.

Gbenro Dara is the Co-founder & CEO of Octamile, a Lagos-based insurtech building the embedded insurance API layer for Africa. Octamile enables any business — from banks to fintechs to logistics platforms — to embed insurance products into their customer experience, without becoming an insurer. Before Octamile, Gbenro served as Managing Director of OList (Opera), where he led the platform from near-zero to 1M+ seller accounts and 4M monthly users. He was previously CEO of Cheki Nigeria (automotive classifieds), Country Manager at Efritin Nigeria, and Co-founder & COO of AutoGenius, Nigeria's first online motor insurance comparison platform. Gbenro holds a BSc in Insurance from the University of Lagos and is a member of the Chartered Insurance Institute of Nigeria (CIIN). He holds an MBA from Lagos Business School and is an OnDeck fellow and Norrsken '23 cohort member. He writes and speaks on AI, insurance infrastructure, startup building in frontier markets, and the economics of digital distribution in Africa.

Gbenro Dara is the Co-founder & CEO of Octamile, building Africa's embedded insurance infrastructure. A 14-year technology operator, he has led five companies across insurtech, e-commerce, and classifieds — including OList/Opera (1M+ sellers, 4M monthly users) and Cheki Nigeria. He speaks on AI in insurance, embedded finance, and building startups in emerging markets. He holds a BSc in Insurance (University of Lagos), an MBA (Lagos Business School), and is a Norrsken '23 fellow.