Pharmakina

PROJECT NAME

Exploring the Net Sustainability Impact of FDI in Low-income Countries: A Case study of Pharmakina investments in South Kivu Province, DRC 

DURATION

Ongoing project, started in June 2025

PROJECT FUNDING

Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation SDC and CCRS

ABOUT THE PROJECT

In June 2025, the CCRS launched an international project to study the contribution of foreign direct investment (FDI) to sustainable and inclusive change in low-income countries and to the achievement of UN Sustainable Development Goal 8 (decent work and economic growth). The project aims to evaluate the commitment of foreign-owned companies to principle-based local embeddedness. To this end, we are conducting a comprehensive case study of Pharmakina, which is based in Bukavu, a city in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Since its founding in 1946, Pharmakina has grown continuously and became the world’s leading producer and processor of quinine. Our project aims to systematically explore Pharmakina's net sustainability impact on the local population, businesses and environment, answering the following questions:

• How does Pharmakina enable the economic integration of local businesses and culture into the global markets while also creating net social, health, and environmental benefits for the local economy in South Kivu Province?
• How does Pharmakina contribute to the formal local economic ecosystem through vocational training, local capacity development, and supply chain integration? 
• To what extent is Pharmakina a driver of endogenous economic development that encourages local innovation and entrepreneurship?  
• Are there negative net impacts that Pharmakina causes in the local economic ecosystem and how are they addressed?

In our systematic examination of Pharmakina's embeddedness, we combine quantitative and qualitative approaches. Using kei-sdg8 rating tool developed by CCRS in a prior research project, we assess the contribution of Pharmakina to the local economy, society, and environment. Through qualitative methods and extensive fieldwork research in the Bukavu region, we explore Pharmakina's role and how its impact on sustainable development is perceived at the local level.

The Pharmakina case study offers valuable insights into the potential of business and impact investment to alleviate poverty in economically and politically unstable regions. And in that process, we also update the CCRS's kei-sdg8 tool, enabling other international companies to evaluate the net sustainability impact and contribution of their subsidiaries to UN SDG 8 in the regions in which they operate.

RESEARCH TEAM

Jovana Diković, CCRS - principal investigator

Philipp Aerni, CCRS - project supervisor

Patrick Milabyo Kyamusugulwa, Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médiales de Bukavu - scientific researcher in the DRC

Patrick is a professor at the Institut Supérieur des Techniques Médicales de Bukavu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). He is also a researcher at the International Institute of Social Studies, Erasmus University Rotterdam, in the Netherlands and a member of the Social Science Centre for African Development-KUTAFITI. Patrick has published extensively on social accountability, gender, local governance and community reconstruction and development in the DRC.

Marie-Rose Bashwira, Catholic University of Bukavu, sienctific researcher in the DRC

Marie-Rose is a professor of social economics at the Catholic University of Bukavu. She focuses her research on the circular economy and green entrepreneurship. Marie-Rose also studies gender, resource governance and development studies. She is also involved in research on socioeconomic impact, value chains, peace and security, entrepreneurship and climate change. She holds a PhD from Wageningen University. She is a research fellow at the International Institute of Social Studies at Erasmus University and part of IBeP-DRC (Intiative pour le Bien Etre et la Paix).