VimpelCom launches Make Your Mark

Amsterdam (December 18, 2014) - VimpelCom Ltd. ( VimpelCom , Company or Group ) (NASDAQ: VIP), a leading global provider of telecommunications services operating in 14 countries and headquartered in Amsterdam, today announces the launch of its Make Your Mark' initiative and publishes a report on the role of mobile operators in developing digital entrepreneurism.

Make Your Mark

Make Your Mark' is a key element of VimpelCom's corporate responsibility strategy, with the objective of Helping young people shape their future'. Make Your Mark' recognizes the challenges that today's young people face in relation to issues such as poverty, youth unemployment, inadequate healthcare and education, food security, resource scarcity and climate change - reinforced by a rapidly growing population. Make Your Mark' aims to provide young people with technology tools, support and mentoring, and in some cases access to basic education, to help them tackle these challenges at an individual, community and national level - to shape their future.

VimpelCom's Chief Executive Officer Jo Lunder commented: Young people will face many challenges over the coming years. Through Make Your Mark' we can focus our technology, expertise and knowledge to help them to help themselves - to shape their future. I am very proud of what we have already achieved in this area but with this launch we aim to go much further .

Make Your Mark' has three main elements:

- Helping young people who have little access to quality education to improve their life chances - helping themselves and their communities by shaping a better future. Mobilink's award-winning mobile literacy project is an example of what can be achieved.

- Supporting young entrepreneurs to bring their ideas to life as new digital businesses, leveraging mobile technology - helping themselves, their communities and helping to drive growth in the broader economy. In Italy, WIND Business Factor shows what is possible.

- Inspiring young people to use their energy, creativity and business ideas to address society's challenges, creating services for society' (such as in the areas of healthcare, education, financial services and agriculture) while shaping a more sustainable future for themselves, their communities and society as a whole.

With the Make Your Mark' initiative, VimpelCom aims to broaden and deepen existing relevant initiatives across its Business Units and Operating Companies to create a critical mass of societal impact, as well as to stimulate innovation and digital entrepreneurism which are in turn positive for the business. The Company will report on progress and highlight case studies on a regular basis.

Further information can be found on our corporate website.

Report: Enabling Entrepreneurs in a Mobile World'

To mark the launch of Make Your Mark', the Company commissioned Caribou Digital, experts in digital entrepreneurism in emerging markets, to map out the current landscape and highlight the barriers young digital entrepreneurs face when starting their businesses. Their report also sets out recommendations on actions mobile operators can take to support the growth of digital entrepreneurism, including:

- shifting their culture to be more open to digital entrepreneurs, recognizing that innovation does not always come from within

- developing market-specific strategies as the context for building a successful digital entrepreneurism ecosystem' can vary widely from country to country

- acting as the convener for a range of partners required for a successful initiative, including specialist investors, government agencies, business schools and academia, and importantly, successful entrepreneurs who can demonstrate what is possible, and act as mentors

Further market-specific research is planned for the future.

About VimpelCom VimpelCom, an international telecoms company operating in 14 countries and headquartered in Amsterdam, is one of the world's largest integrated telecommunications services operators providing voice and data services through a range of traditional and broadband mobile and fixed technologies in Russia, Italy, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Armenia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Algeria, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. VimpelCom's operations around the globe cover territory with a total population of approximately 739 million people. VimpelCom provides services under the Beeline, Kyivstar, WIND , Infostrada Mobilink , banglalink , Telecel , and Djezzy brands. As of September 30, 2014 VimpelCom had 223 million mobile customers on a combined basis. VimpelCom is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol (VIP). For more information visit: http://www.vimpelcom.com.

Contact information Investor Relations

VimpelCom Ltd.

Gerbrand Nijman/Remco Vergeer

ir@vimpelcom.com

Tel: +31 20 79 77 200 (Amsterdam)

Media and Public Relations

VimpelCom Ltd.

Bobby Leach/Artem Minaev

pr@vimpelcom.com

Tel: +31 20 79 77 200 (Amsterdam)

LINK:	http://www.vimpelcom.com/Media-center/Press-releases/2014/VimpelCom-la...
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