Dayo Ogunyemi is a creative entrepreneur and the founder of 234 Media, a firm that invests in and develops ventures in the media, entertainment and technology sectors.
He has helmed several initiatives that have shaped the African media and technology landscape. In the early 2000s, he advised several African governments and regional economic communities on policy, legislation and regulations for e-payments, data privacy, intellectual property, technology and the creative industries. He is a founding board member of the African Film Academy, organizer of the African Movie Academy Awards, and served on the board of the UN Economic Commission for Africa’s Information Society Initiative.
As a producer, Dayo works as a trusted partner and advisor to acclaimed and emerging writers, directors and producers in film and television in North America, Africa and Europe. He has participated in the Cannes Cinefondation Atelier and Producers Network programs. As an investor and entrepreneur, he built and operated East Africa’s then largest cinema chain and an affiliated film distributor through which he acquired and released award-winning arthouse and independent films including Djo Munga’s Viva Riva, Michel Hazanavicius’s The Artist and Kevin McDonald’s Bob Marley biopic (premiered in Ghana in partnership with Rita Marley and her eponymous foundation).
More than a million people have watched his talk, “Visions of Africa’s future, from African filmmakers,” delivered at TedGlobal2017 and he authored the Framing The Shot report on Africa’s evolving film industry, released in partnership with the Goethe Institute and German Foreign Office.
Dayo earned an SB from MIT and holds a Juris Doctor from Columbia Law and an MBA from Columbia Business School.