Boris Kolev, Global Head of Technology

Boris is a social and digital innovations entrepreneur and is a proud alumnus of JA Bulgaria. He participated in the JA Company Program from 2002–2006, winning the JA Bulgaria Student Company of the Year Award twice and reaching third place in the 2005 JA Europe finals. Boris started his first company at the age of 18 in Bulgaria. He quickly succeeded in being recognized as one of the Best Young Entrepreneurs in Bulgaria and Europe in subsequent years. Boris has extensive experience building and developing technology companies and projects involving digital innovations. One of his ventures, DigiMark, was recognized as the fastest-growing software company in Bulgaria for three consecutive years, and the company expanded to serve three continents. After the successful acquisition of DigiMark in 2018, Boris served two years as a Vice President in the global fintech development company Devexperts and founded the micro-VC fund DigiMark Ventures, investing in a series of innovative Eastern European startups. In November 2020, Boris joined the JA Europe team to lead the organization's digital transformation after the challenging pandemic made clear the need for rapid technology improvement. Boris has received the following honors: 2019 FERD’s List, 2013 Forbes 30 under 30″, 2007 BusinessWeek’s “Europe’s Best Young Entrepreneurs” and 2020 JA Global Business Hall of Fame. He joined the JA Worldwide team in August 2024.