Serano Varela was born in April of 1981 in the remote northeast corner of Mozambique’s Sofala Province, in the midst of the country’s 16-year civil war. Both of his parents were farmers. Varela’s childhood was very turbulent, and gunfire was a normal part of everyday life. He began attending school at age eight, but his education suffered from constant interruptions until the war ended in 1992. Varela eventually moved with his mother to the provincial capital, Beira, to further pursue his studies, completing high school in 2003. He then went on to Maputo to complete a degree in Accounting and Finance at Eduardo Mondlane University. Prior to joining Namati in April of 2016, he worked as Finance Officer at Pathfinder International and most recently as the Accounts and Finance Manager for the Mozambique Bar Association.