Barcelona, February 29, 2024: VEON Ltd. (NASDAQ: VEON, Euronext Amsterdam: VEON), a global digital operator providing mobile and fixed-line services, today announced that Kyivstar, its subsidiary in Ukraine, has won the GSMA’s Global Mobile Award at the annual Global Mobile Awards (GLOMO) in the category of Best Mobile Innovation in Support of Emergencies or Humanitarian Situations for its network resilience project.
The award was presented to Kyivstar CTO Volodymyr Lutchenko at a ceremony organized as part of the Mobile World Congress (MWC24) in Barcelona. The GLOMO award recognizes Kyivstar’s hard work and exemplary performance in providing connectivity in Ukraine, its meaningful investments in its network and digital services during the war, and its overcoming of severe challenges to support Ukraine’s resilience.
In his speech, Mr. Lutchenko recognized the work of the Ukrainian telecommunications industry, noting that “This is an award not only for Kyivstar, but for all Ukrainian telecommunications operators.
VEON would like to thank all the nominees of this year’s GLOMO award, as well as the mobile industry in general, for their work aimed at solving humanitarian problems and helping communities overcome emergencies. “I am honored to receive the GLOMO award for the extraordinary work of the Kyivstar team in providing vital communications for Ukraine. Our communication and digital services are extremely important for communities, in humanitarian crises and emergencies. We are honored to be part of an industry that is committed to meeting this challenge,” added Kaan Terzioglu, CEO of VEON Group.
Kyivstar is the largest telecommunications operator in Ukraine, providing services to 24 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.1 million home Internet subscribers. As a leading operator in the Ukrainian telecom market, the company maintains over 90% network availability in the government-controlled areas of Ukraine, providing communications not only to its customers but also to the population of Ukraine as a whole.
VEON International Group owns 100% of Kyivstar. VEON and Kyivstar have committed to investing $600 million over the next three years to rebuild and restore Ukraine.
About VEON
VEON is a digital operator that provides mobile, fixed-line and digital services to nearly 160 million customers. Operating in six countries with more than 7% of the world’s population, VEON changes lives by providing technology services that empower people and drive economic growth. Headquartered in Amsterdam, VEON is listed on the NASDAQ and Euronext stock exchanges.
For more information, please follow the link: https://www.veon.com.
About Kyivstar:
Kyivstar is Ukraine’s largest electronic communications operator, serving 24 million mobile subscribers and more than 1.1 million Home Internet subscribers as of September 2023. The company provides services using a wide range of mobile and fixed technologies, including 4G, Big Data, Cloud solutions, cybersecurity services, digital TV, etc. Kyivstar helps subscribers, society and the country to overcome the challenges of wartime. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, the company has allocated UAH 1.8 billion to support the Armed Forces, society and subscribers. Kyivstar’s sole shareholder is the international VEON Group. The Group’s shares are listed on NASDAQ (New York) and Euronext (Amsterdam). Kyivstar has been operating in Ukraine for 25 years and is recognized as the largest taxpayer in the telecom market, the best employer and a socially responsible company. For more information: pr@kyivstar.net, www.kyivstar.ua
The Republic of Cyprus has extended until March 4, 2025 the temporary protection status for persons who already have this status.
“The Ministry of Interior informs all interested parties that, based on the relevant decision of the Council of Ministers, the right to temporary protection is automatically extended for one year for those persons who have obtained such a right in Cyprus, i.e. until March 4, 2025”, – stated in the official announcement of the Refugee Service on the relevant website.
And it is specified that “thus, for those who have already received temporary protection, there is no need to submit a new application to the Refugee Service or to issue a new biometric residence permit at the Department of Population and Immigration.
Those who wish to apply for temporary protection for the first time must apply either electronically at http://www.moi.gov.cy/asylum or in person at the Refugee Service head office in Nicosia.
The Unity Facility insurance mechanism for grain transportation by Ukrainian sea corridor, announced in mid-November 2023, has been extended to ships carrying not only grain but any other cargoes from February 2024, Oliver Wyman partner Crispin Ellison said.
“By combining the efforts of the industry and the government, we’ve been able to create a mechanism (facility) where prices are well under half of those in the normal commercial market. And now, this month, February, we’ve expanded that facility to include transportation of all cargoes, not just grain,” he said at a Wednesday webinar on political risk insurance organized by the U.S.-Ukraine Business Council (USUBC) and the U.S. Department of Commerce.
He said this will be formally announced on Friday, but the option is already available and effectively triples the mechanism.
Ellison recalled that after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative, insurance rates increased for the military risk element alone to about 5%, which was completely unaffordable and led to a halt in shipping in July and August.
Established using a public-private partnership (PPP) in which the Ukrainian government provided a $20 million reimbursement fund, the Unity Facility insures approximately 1,000 vessels per year with a maximum insured value of $50 million for each vessel, supporting the export of approximately 30 million tons of grain. The reimbursement fund is accessed through a letter of credit with Ukrainian banks and DZ Bank.
According to Ellison’s submission, a parallel mechanism for cargo coverage, supported by EBRD financing for the Ukrainian government, is being considered.
The expert emphasized that the relatively small amount of insurance capital allowed exporting goods worth about $20 billion, and its estimate is 6-8% of Ukraine’s GDP.
As reported, the Unity Facility was created with the support of the UK government, international reinsurance broker Marsh McLennan and over a dozen more British insurance companies.
According to the Ministry of Restoration, the sea corridor created by the Navy of the AFU and the Danube since August 2023 provided for the export of almost 26 million tons of cargo, of which more than 18 million tons – the products of Ukrainian agrarians. It was specified that from the ports of “Greater Odessa” 854 ships were sent to 42 countries.
Dynamics of the exchange rate of hryvnia to U.S. Dollar in 2022-2023
Source: Open4Business.com.ua and experts.news
Amounts to be refunded decreased by almost one and a half times
Value added tax (VAT) accounted for one fifth of all state budget revenues in 2023. All VAT payers are entitled to a VAT refund. However, only 63% of the requested VAT refunds were paid by the State Tax Service (STS) in 2023.
Last year, VAT on imported goods amounted to UAH 366.2 billion, a 1.4-fold increase compared to the first year of the full-scale war. This is almost the same as in 2021 – UAH 380.7 billion.
At the same time, domestic VAT – that is, the tax on goods produced in the country – increased by 10% by 2021.
The situation with VAT refunds in 2023 improved slightly, but still did not reach pre-war levels. Last year, the Tax Service refunded 63% of the amounts claimed for refund, almost UAH 78.5 billion. This is 1.6 times less than in 2021. It is worth noting that the amounts to be refunded decreased by 1.4 times compared to the same pre-war year.
In general, the worst VAT refund rates over the past 4 years were recorded in 2022 – only 48% of the requested amounts, and the best – in the covid 2020: 97% of the requested amount.
Last year, VAT on domestic goods, including refunds, amounted to 8.6% of the budget, and VAT on imported goods – 11.5%. VAT will account for 20% of all state budget revenues in 2023. For comparison, in 2022, VAT brought 25% of the state treasury.
On February 26, 2024, Kyiv hosted the Grand Pitch Day of the educational grant program Pochinok. Ten finalists of the program presented their business ideas to the jury and competed for two main project incentives – up to $5,000 in additional funding to implement their business ideas.
The educational and grant program Pochinok aimed to improve the business skills of Ukrainian women and help them launch or develop their own businesses. The project included online and offline training, consultations with leading psychologists, mentoring from business experts, and financial support for business development.
Ten finalists of the Grand Pitch Day were selected from 200 participants of the Program, who had already attracted financial support of up to $3,000 for business development during their participation in the project. The participants received the highest scores for their business presentations from mentors from the Diia.Business network of entrepreneurial support centers, actively attended educational classes during their studies, and, accordingly, had high academic performance in the project.
“We at the Ministry of Digital Transformation are building a country of entrepreneurs. That is why we created the national project Diia.Business, which provides free opportunities and tools for entrepreneurs. We pay special attention to women entrepreneurs, as women now account for 60% of new sole proprietors. Therefore, we strive to help Ukrainian women acquire the necessary business knowledge and receive specialized support. The educational and grant program Pochinok has become a record in terms of the speed of registrations and the activity of participants. Almost 6,000 entrepreneurs took part in the program, of which 200 participants received up to $3,000 to develop their own business idea or a new line of business,” said Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration.
Valeria Ionan, Deputy Minister of Digital Transformation for European Integration
According to the jury’s vote, the two main awards of the Initiative were given to the following participants:
● Iryna Antonchyk, AgroHobby garden center. She studied at the Diia.Business center in Lutsk
● Natalia Olshanska, production of natural dogwood products Famberry. She studied at the Diia.Business center in Kryvyi Rih.
Winners of the Grand Pitch Day
“The Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development and the national project Diia.Business are actively involved in the implementation of educational and grant projects aimed at supporting women’s entrepreneurship. The Startup program has become an important first step for many Ukrainian women to start a business or the necessary inspiration to continue developing their own business. During the training, participants gained new business knowledge, mental, mentoring and financial support. Today we saw competitive, strong and creative participants who proved by their own example that Ukrainian business is not standing still, but is actively moving towards new achievements,” said Andriy Remizov, Director of the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development.
Andriy Remizov, Director of the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development
More than 6,000 women entrepreneurs took part in the educational and grant program
In the first stage of training, participants attended 11 online lectures from leading business experts and a project psychologist. Entrepreneurs learned more about: business model analysis, financial management, leadership psychology for women, strategies for success and self-development, digital transformation of small and medium-sized businesses, team management and building HR processes, etc.
The second stage of the training included 367 participants who presented presentations on their future or existing businesses to the project’s independent mentors. In addition, the entrepreneurs were involved in 11 online and offline business and psychology classes at Diia.Business centers, received individual mentoring support, and had the opportunity to compete for financial support from the Program. The total grant fund of the program is UAH 22,570,000.
“The Grand Pitch Day is of great importance as a key moment in the UN Women project “Strengthening Gender Response and Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls in the Context of the Humanitarian and Refugee Crisis in Ukraine”. This event is the culmination of efforts, a platform where women’s aspirations and entrepreneurial endeavors take center stage. It provides a unique opportunity for participants to showcase their business ideas, innovations and plans to a diverse audience,” said Julia Broussard, UN Women Deputy Representative in Ukraine.
Julia Broussard, UN Women Deputy Resident Representative in Ukraine
The expert jury of the Grand Pitch Day included:
● Aslikhan Ozkan, Planning and Partnerships Specialist, UN Women Ukraine
Yevheniia Klepa, Director of Partnerships and Innovations, SET University
Valeriya Chachybaya, producer, Forbes Ukraine
Anton Shulyk, financier, entrepreneur and co-founder of fint8 platform
Grand Pitch Day jury
Criteria for evaluating the business projects of Grand Pitch Day participants by the jury:
● Vision, ability to implement the project – participants had to justify a step-by-step plan for its implementation.
● Business project, relevance and effectiveness of the project – the idea must meet the goals of the acceleration program and market requirements, having a positive impact on Ukrainian business and the culture of doing business.
● Realism of the hypothesis – the project must be aimed at meeting the needs of the target audience and meet the hypothesis of the market niche that the company plans to occupy.
Competitive advantages – the parameters that distinguish a company, product, service or business concept from competitors in the selected niche are evaluated.
Financial strategy – participants must present a description of specific areas of development of the company, product, service or business concept, which will be the focus of further investments, as well as a plan to increase the project’s profitability.
For reference:
The educational and grant program Start was implemented by the network of entrepreneur support centers Diia.Business with the assistance of the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, the Office for Entrepreneurship and Export Development with the support of UN Women Ukraine and the Government of Japan.
