Ali Rıza Babaoğlan is a computer engineer and a businessman from Turkey. He is currently shareholder and board member of several companies focusing on the new economy. Babaoğlan had three exits since 2015. Prior to the angel investment side, Babaoğlan worked at LinkedIn EMEA HQ where he held Director of Turkish Speaking Territory in Dublin Ireland. Before, he had been with SAP and IBM. Now, as an active businessman, he is mainly making investments in the technology sector with his company Grow in EMEA.
He took a part in the Founding Board of the Demokrasi ve Atılım Partisi (DEVA Political Party) established under the leadership of Ali Babacan on March 9th, 2020. With the founding, Babaoğlan became the Vice President in charge of the Public Relations Unit, Member of the President Board and Board of Directors. He was reelected by the delegation for the same roles on the 29th of December 2020 in the 1st Congress at Ankara. He managed these roles until he resigned on July 19th, 2021, with his own decision.
While studying, he took part in UNDP Turkey’s activities as a volunteer and has been in Kenya for a month with UNDP MDG 2015 program, for observation and reporting about promoting gender equality and women empowerment. He stayed in Nairobi and Mombasa.
He was invited to key technology events in Lebanon, Ukraine, Dubai, Egypt, and Germany to share his experiences regarding technological transformation and the new economy. He shared his experience at ARAB NET in Lebanon, ITArena in Ukraine, RiseUp Summit in Egypt, and NEXT in Germany. He served as an Advisory Board Member of Yenibirlider Derneği to transfer new generation leadership models to young people in a world-changing with technology.
Babaoğlan received the “BSRE Award” of IBM, the “Best Microsoft Student Partner Award” of Microsoft and the “Ten Outstanding Young Person Award” of JCI in his early career. Babaoğlan’s name is still on the list of “World’s Most Successful Young People” as a result of his studies.