# Emre Varol

> Emre Varol is a Turkish software engineer, educator, and founder and CEO of A2SV, a nonprofit that began with 22 students in Addis Ababa in 2019. After engineering roles at Palantir, Google Research, and Liftoff, he built a free training and mentorship program connecting African university students with international engineering opportunities and locally relevant product development. A2SV currently reports more than 1,200 engineers and technology entrepreneurs trained and more than 120 offers earned by its community.

- **Role:** Founder and CEO at A2SV | Africa to Silicon Valley
- **Organizations:** A2SV Foundation, Eskalate, Liftoff, Google Research, Palantir Technologies, Yahoo! Research, Bilkent University, TÜBİTAK
- **From:** Ankara, Turkey
- **Nationality:** Turkish
- **Education:** B.S., Computer Engineering, Bilkent University, M.S., Computer Engineering, Bilkent University
- **Known for:** Represented Turkey at the 2005 International Olympiad in Informatics., Founded A2SV, which currently reports over 1,200 software engineers and technology entrepreneurs trained across 22 African countries., A2SV reports over 120 offers earned by its community and over 20 products incubated.

## Career timeline

- **2005** — Represented Turkey at the International Olympiad in Informatics.
- **2005-2011** — Taught and coached competitive programming at TÜBİTAK National Informatics Olympiad camps.
- **2009-2011** — Research internships at Yahoo! Research in Barcelona in 2009, 2010, and 2011.
- **2012-2014** — Software engineer at Palantir Technologies, working in London and Palo Alto.
- **2014-2016** — Software engineer at Google Research in Mountain View.
- **2016-2019** — Machine learning engineer at Liftoff in Palo Alto.
- **2019** — Started A2SV in Addis Ababa; first cohort launched November 15 with 22 students.
- **2021** — A2SV incorporated as a nonprofit foundation, according to his official career history.
- **2023** — A2SV announced Google funding and organized its first continent-wide generative AI hackathon.
- **2024** — Led A2SV participation at GITEX Africa; received JCI Turkey TOYP recognition in Humanitarian and Voluntary Leadership.

## Achievements

- Represented Turkey at the 2005 International Olympiad in Informatics.
- Founded A2SV, which currently reports over 1,200 software engineers and technology entrepreneurs trained across 22 African countries.
- A2SV reports over 120 offers earned by its community and over 20 products incubated.
- A2SV received funding from Google, announced January 10, 2023.
- JCI Turkey Ten Outstanding Young Persons 2024 recognition in Humanitarian and Voluntary Leadership, as listed on his official site.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — Research snapshot: his official website lists A2SV outcomes of 1,200+ engineers and technology entrepreneurs trained, 120+ community offers, and 20+ products incubated; these are cumulative self-reported figures, not October-only results.
- **2025-04** — Appeared on the Dagmawi Babi Podcast in an episode published April 9 covering his upbringing, career, hobbies, A2SV, and Eskalate.
- **2024-06** — A2SV participation at GITEX Africa was reported on June 12, following the May 29-31 event in Marrakesh.

## Links

- Website: https://emrevarol.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/emre-varol/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/varolemre

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/emre-varol
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-27