A visionary of integrity, Bhaagya Kariyawasam; the Founder, Group Managing Director, and Chief Executive Officer of Integrity Group of Companies, began his illustrious entrepreneurial odyssey in 2004 building his brand with the interpretation that honesty and ethics should be more approachable to a target category of customers looking for a service that combines quality and value for money.

Bhaagya concluded his secondary education having established a reputation for leadership characteristics throughout his formative years as a proud alumnus of his Alma Mater D.S.Senanayake College, Colombo 07 and later at SLIIT (Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology), where he received his higher education credentials. Despite inheriting family-owned plantations in Sri Lanka’s south, which are equally worth noting, his fervour for success prompted him to originate and promote his own brand.

Grasping an understanding of how and why he decided to start the firm, Bhaagya explains that after completing his higher education, he joined the family business for a year to acquire avid training under his father’s supervision. After that, he worked for a private firm to gain expertise in the corporate world. It was at this moment that he recognized the difficulty of day-to-day maintenance at his own home, having discovered that due to the lack of a reliable person, the members of the household had to take a day off from work to attend to these repairs and other tasks. Bhaagya realized the necessity of a consistent and dependable repair and maintenance firm at this point. 

Having recognized the business possibilities of this unique concept, which was a novel notion between the years 2000 and 2003, when no one had thought of it because there was no existing company that provided repair and maintenance services. Taking this into account, Bhaagya aspired to provide excellent service to his clients and acknowledge that the service industry is the best field for future growth. As a result, in 2004, ‘INTEGRITY’ was established on a small scale for household electrical and plumbing maintenance with just one technician. Currently, the company employs around 50 in-house technicians and operates two branches in Colombo 05 and Galle. Integrity today maintains the most prestigious homes of the country’s VIPs, and the company’s services are also provided to the business sector for over 750 locations.

When it comes to how Integrity sets itself apart from competitors, Bhaagya points out that the company has been in the sector for more than 17 years and has yet to encounter serious competition. He points out that there is no competent firm in Colombo to deal with minor electrical and plumbing difficulties in individual residences. Large-scale building and maintenance are available, but little fixes, such as changing a light bulb or replacing a tap, have long been an inconvenience in the household sector. In light of this, Bhaagya adds that Integrity’s main focus is on minute repair and maintenance works, which is why they believe they don’t have strong competition. The company’s speciality is that they have been supporting their customer base on a 24/7 basis for 17 years.

Integrity is an ISO 9001:2015, ISO 14001:2015, and OHSAS 18001:2007 certified company that strives to provide quality service employs in-house technical experts and is the only company in Colombo that operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The company was named Local Brand of the Year in the Service Sector at the SLIM Brand Excellence Awards, which distinguishes Integrity from its competitors.

Bhaagya states the company’s clients are the country’s VIPs, including chairman’s, CEO’s, top businessmen, and reputed and famous individuals, when speaking about engineering services and repair and maintenance quality. As a result, the corporation maintains all of its residences and workplace spaces. Clients in this category are looking for convenience and, more importantly, high-quality service. He goes on to say that keeping the same customers for years and developing a VIP base of more than 500 domestic consumers attests to the company’s quality of repair work. 

Furthermore, the organization has an experienced workforce, with the majority of employees having worked with the company for more than ten years. As a result of their long association with the organization, they don’t delay identifying problems and know how to resolve them in a timely and professional manner. This is the business module that hadn’t been updated in 17 years and is the reason for Integrity being a specialist in the industry.

Looking back to 2015, Bhaagya indicates having reintroduced Digital Services with the industry-first concept of “Smart Home / Smart Office.” They primarily concentrate on the digital component’s service side, as well as techno marketing, which lacks an adequate market. Considering mobile phones are utilized to govern people’s lives in Sri Lanka, as they are in the rest of the globe, they chose to research and study the Sri Lankan mobile market.

Bhaagya goes on to announce that as soon as the first step was taken, they began distributorship for Nokia, Microsoft, HTC and Blackberry brands and that the company is currently the primary distributor for SAMSUNG, the world’s most prestigious mobile phone brand. He highly emphasizes that the company currently holds the record for being the top revenue donor to the SAMSUNG mobile phone distributorship, even during the pandemic’s worst stage, and has also established a business in high-quality accessories for mobile headsets, IoT devices, and sound systems, among other things.

Lastly, it is vital to note that Integrity has been the most trusted service provider for Radiation Shielding works in Sri Lanka since 2004, manufacturing, supplying, and installing Lead Lined Doors (X-Ray Doors) and Lead Glasses for hospitals. The organization, which was the first in the industry, is currently ranked No. 1 in the healthcare sector for Radiation Shielding work and have covered more than 90% of the total government and private hospitals in the country. Integrity’s Radiation Shielding works are  ISO 9001:2015 certified becoming the only company in the field to obtain quality certification. 

When asked if he feels like he has an advantage in the market or if it has been more challenging, Bhaagya responds that the current market is quite challenging daily since it is based on the service quality provided to clients. He goes on to note that the sectors in this service field are limitless, as the company has only scratched the surface and will need to expand into new areas in the future. However, unlike many of its competitors, the organization has the ability to launch a variety of new businesses.

Aside from that, they have no obstacles in the market considering they have been surviving for a longer period with uttermost commitment and the experience they possess, which is something that few people can achieve but which Integrity has done effectively. Because of its extensive experience, the organization continues to be the most trusted service provider and as a result, has risen to the top in terms of knowledge, quality, and professionalism.

When asked why he chose this business model and how it has fared during the global pandemic, Bhaagya explains that the industry he has chosen does not fall easily, explaining that he recognized the importance of this business module 17 years ago and has been proven correct that this is what customers require for hassle-free life. However, he admits that navigating through the Covid19  Pandemic time was tough to some extent because his teams have direct contact with customers visiting their homes and offices. This required adjusting to a new regular life while taking numerous precautions; nonetheless, Bhaagya discovered that his business was unaffected and continued to develop at the same time.

As a strong-willed individual, Bhaagya ends his statement on his passion to start new businesses and take on new challenges to build brands and offer new industries to the market. On a daily basis, he is confronted with numerous challenges, both small and major, in order to maintain their position and maintain trust in their brand name while making prompt decisions. As a result, the daily obstacles he confronts motivate him to be a better version of himself every day.