Press Statement by Ruwan Jayaratne: Director- Serenity Group – Uganda
Colombo; Serenity Group is aware of multiple stories that have been circulating on social media platforms regarding to its founders, operations and business profile.
Country is clearly undergoing a tremendously challenging time, where its citizens are struggling to establish changes that will help the country overcome difficulties that were built on years of bad governance. We know that the people’s struggle is legitimate, that their grievances are undeniable, and the questions are sincere. And in this regard, Serenity Group is open to support any legitimate investigation.
We categorically state that we have not received any investment or financial support from politicians or the government of Sri Lanka.
We hope that our attempt to share our story, our history, values, and vision will help the general public to get a better grasp of the situation and answer many of the burning questions that have been fuelled by the low trust environment.
Ruwan Jayaratne & Devaka Ekanayake
I am Ruwan Jayaratne. One of the two Directors/Shareholders of Serenity Group. Upon graduation from University of Sheffield, I gained employment as a Management Trainee at a Leading Electrical Engineering firm in Sri Lanka. At this point around 2008-2009, my company had not done any Engineering, Procurement & Construction (EPC) contracts outside Sri Lanka. As one of its business development engineers, I tabled the proposals for the company to expand its horizons to Africa. I was joined by Devaka Ekanayake, graduate of University of Peradeniya to spearhead the Africa Project Portfolio for the company. In the subsequent years we secured and managed EPC & supply contracts in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. By 2014, the company was employing multiple Sri Lankans and we were directly accountable for a project portfolio of USD 100 million.
Serenity Group, Nile Heavy Engineering, Café Ceylon & Bakehouse
Serenity Group was set up to follow our business interests. We secured supply & construction contracts in Rural Electrification Projects through a subsidiary named Nile Heavy Engineering Ltd. We also entered the F&B sector with two establishments: Café Ceylon and “Bakehouse”. During an official visit to Uganda, Former President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Café Ceylon. This was in May 2016, and this event was publicised along with the other politicians that were present on the day. We divested ourselves from the F&B businesses in 2020. All of our subsidiaries have been openly and proudly displayed on our website and it is only recently that we’ve had downtime due to an IT issue.
East Africa Concrete Products Limited (EACPL)
Our flagship project was setting up EACPL. Our primary objective was to supply spun concrete poles and other concrete products for Rural Electrification. There was a notable gap in Power
Distribution Networks, where environmentally unfriendly wooden poles were utilized. The infrastructure was based on these poles that had a low life span and rampant reliability issues.
We lobbied the idea of spun concrete poles to bridge this gap, sourced the necessary approvals, raised finance – both debt and equity – through equity investors and a commercial bank in Sri Lanka to complete the 1st concrete pole factory in Uganda. The year was 2014/15.
I personally mortgaged a family property as collateral to secure the debt financing. This journey would not have been possible without three of my close friends who are reputed professionals from London and Colombo. Their involvement as investors and mentors were pivotal to the success of the said project.
Today, we are proud to say that EACPL is the leading supplier of Concrete Poles for Rural Electrification Projects in Uganda. We are in the process of expanding our product line to offer solutions that benefit the low-cost housing construction market and contribute to the welfare of underprivileged communities.
Cricket
We are also active in promoting the game of cricket in Uganda among unprivileged kids as a cultural exchange initiative and CSR.
In a nutshell, Serenity Group and its subsidiaries had an organic growth since its inception and provided employment for many Sri Lankans and Ugandans. We will proudly continue to support Sri Lanka through a steady flow of foreign remittances into the country.
P.S. We have instructed our Legal Counsel, Sharm Fernando Associates to attend to any inquiry in this regard
Attorneys-At-Law & Notaries Public
35/10, Off Vijaya Kumaranatunga Mawatha,
Colombo 05 info@sharmfernando.com
