At Pharo Ventures, profit is only part of the story. We measure success by how well we strengthen local supply chains, expand productive capacity, and generate enduring economic value for local communities. To track this, we’ve developed an evolving impact measurement framework that blends global best practices with Pharo Foundation values.
| Goal | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Create jobs | We want to generate stable, skilled, upwardly mobile work in underserved regions. |
| Build productive capacity | We invest in infrastructure and capabilities that enable long-term economic transformation (e.g., processing plants, etc.). |
| Add local value | We aim to create more value within local economies by converting raw or underutilized inputs into higher-value products, capturing more of the value chain domestically. |
| Reduce import dependence | We aim to reduce import dependence by boosting local production and retaining value within domestic markets. |
| Anchor local supply chains | We want to contribute to a strong, integrated domestic network that supports industrial development and resilience. |
| Signal market opportunity | We want to demonstrate that frontier markets can host commercially viable and socially impactful ventures. |
We measure value creation through two complementary metrics. Economic Value Added (EVA) captures the direct contribution of salaries and profits, while Local Value Retention (LVR) goes further — adding, for instance, local supplier margins — to reflect the full economic footprint that stays in-country. This approach ensures we keep an eye on the benefits beyond our own operations, including income gains for local farmers, transporters, and service providers.
Alongside value creation, we aim to track job creation at multiple levels: direct jobs within our ventures, indirect jobs in supply chains and supporting services, and, if data allows, induced jobs created by the spending of those workers in the local economy. We also aim to assess capacity addition, from the infrastructure we build, to the productive capacity we unlock, to the spillover enterprises sparked by our investments. Finally, we apply a structured Social Return on Investment (SROI) approach, known internally as our ‘F-factor’, to evaluate the long-term value-for-money of each venture by comparing projected local benefits against total costs. Together, these measures help us understand whether we are driving sustainable, systemic change.
See below the indicators we use to measure our progress along the six goals listed in the table above: