brand logo

Serenity Group in Uganda denies investment from GoSL 

26 Apr 2022

Serenity Group, responding to speculation that was circulated on social media, yesterday (25) categorically stated that its group has not received any investment or financial support from the politicians or the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and, in this regard, Serenity Group is open to supporting any investigation. The legal counsel, Sharm Fernando Associates is to attend to any inquiry. Issuing a statement, Serenity Group Director Ruwan Jayaratne said: “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.” Jayaratne is one of the two Directors/Shareholders of Serenity Group. Upon graduation from the University of Sheffield, Jayaratne gained employment as a management trainee at a Leading Electrical Engineering firm in Sri Lanka. At this point around 2008-2009, the company had not done any engineering, procurement, and construction (EPC) contracts outside Sri Lanka. As one of its business development engineers, he tabled the proposals for the company to expand its horizons to Africa. He was joined by Devaka Ekanayake, a graduate of the University of Peradeniya, to spearhead the Africa project portfolio for the company. In the subsequent years Jayaratne and Ekanayake secured and managed EPC and supply contracts in Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania. By 2014, the company was employing multiple Sri Lankans and were directly accountable for a project portfolio of $ 100 million. Serenity Group was set up to follow their business interests. They secured supply and construction contracts in rural electrification projects through a subsidiary named Nile Heavy Engineering Ltd. They also entered the food and beverage (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. The duo divested themselves 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, the group noted. In terms of East Africa Concrete Products Ltd. (EACPL), Jayaratne said their flagship project was setting up EACPL. Their 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 utilised. The infrastructure was based on these poles that had a low life span and rampant reliability issues. They 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 first concrete pole factory in Uganda in 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,” Jayaratne claimed.  They noted that today, EACPL is a supplier of concrete poles for rural electrification projects in Uganda. They 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. Meanwhile, they stated they are also active in promoting the game of cricket in Uganda among underprivileged kids as a cultural exchange and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiative.  


More News..