Sudhir Ruparelia (born 17 January 1956) is a

Uganda }), is a landlocked country in East Africa. The country is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the south by Tanzania. The sou ...

n business magnate and

investor An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital most of the time the investor purchases some species of property. Type ...

of Indian origin. He is the chairman and majority shareholder in the companies of the

Ruparelia Group The Ruparelia Group of Companies, commonly referred to as the Ruparelia Group, is a privately owned conglomerate in Uganda. Sudhir Ruparelia, a wealthy Ugandan businessman, is a shareholder in each of the companies in the Group. Overview As of ...

. His investments are mainly in the areas of banking, insurance, education, broadcasting, real estate,

floriculture Floriculture, or flower farming, is a branch of horticulture concerned with the cultivation of flowering and ornamental plants for gardens and for floristry, comprising the floral industry. The development of new varieties by plant breeding is ...

, hotels, and resorts. According to ''

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

'' in 2019, Ruparelia was the wealthiest individual in Uganda, with an estimated net worth of US$1.2 billion. On 20 October 2016, the Bank of Uganda, which regulates all banks in Uganda, took control of Crane Bank, the largest subsidiary of the Ruparelia Group, due to a significant decline in capital and a potential run on the bank. On 11 February 2022,the supreme court in Uganda ruled against the Bank of Uganda when it reverted the ownership of crane bank to the share holders.(Sudhir Ruparelia.)

Biography

Ruparelia was born in Kabatoro,

Kasese District Kasese District is a district in Western Uganda. Like most other Ugandan districts, the town of Kasese is the site of the district headquarters. History In September 2022, the district was hit by deadly landslides. Location Kasese District ...

in the Western Region of Uganda to an upper-middle-class Indian Gujarati family. His great-grandfather reached

Mombasa, Kenya Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of the British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital city status. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

in 1897 from India and set up a trading store there before coming to Uganda in 1903. His grandfather was born in Uganda in 1908 and his father in 1932. Ruparelia has two sisters and one brother. He attended Bat Valley Primary School in Kampala, from P1 to P6, then Jinja Main Street Primary School in Jinja for P7 and Jinja Secondary School. In 1971, he joined

Kololo Senior Secondary School Kololo Senior Secondary School (Kololo SSS), is a government-aided, mixed, middle (S1 - S4) and high (S5 - S6), day school, in Kampala, Uganda. Location The school campus is located on Kololo, Kololo Hill, in Kampala, Uganda's capital and larg ...

. Ruparelia fled to the United Kingdom with his parents in 1972 at the age of 16, when the dictator

Idi Amin Idi Amin Dada Oumee (, ; 16 August 2003) was a Ugandan military officer and politician who served as the third president of Uganda from 1971 to 1979. He ruled as a military dictator and is considered one of the most brutal despots in modern w ...

expelled all Asians from Uganda. Ruparelia returned to Uganda in 1985, with US$25,000 earned from several casual jobs including working in supermarkets, factories, and butcheries. Ruparelia started selling beer and spirits imported from Kenya. In 1989, beer importation was banned to encourage local brewing of alcohol and he realized he could not make beer. But since his customers, who were mainly foreigners, paid him in foreign currency, he started Crane Forex Bureau, the first in Uganda. With his profits, Ruparelia ventured into other businesses, including forming

Crane Bank Crane Bank Limited is a commercial bank in Uganda licensed and supervised by the Bank of Uganda (BOU), the central bank and national banking regulator. Crane Bank was acquired by DFCU Bank in January 2017 at a cost of Ush200 billion ($52.8 million ...

in 1995. Later, he organized his businesses under the umbrella of the Ruparelia Group. In 2007, Ruparelia was awarded an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor ...

degree in business, by the

Uganda Pentecostal University Uganda Pentecostal University (UPU), is a private university in Uganda. Location The Uganda Pentecostal University is located in the heart of Kabarole District, Fort Portal City, Uganda. It originated from the Grotius School of Law and Professio ...

, in recognition of his contribution to Uganda's economic growth.

Personal life

Ruparelia has been married to Jyotsna since 1977. Together, they are parents to three children. Meera, the oldest, has been married to Ravi Kotecha since 2014. Rajiv is their only son, and Sheena is the younger daughter.

Diplomatic Work

In February 2020, Ruparelia was appointed as honorary Consul of the Republic of Nepal to Uganda, by

Bidhya Devi Bhandari Bidya Devi Bhandari (, ; born 19 June 1961) is a Nepali politician who is serving as the second and current president of Nepal. She formerly served as the minister of defence and minister of environment and population. She is the first woman ...

, the president of Nepal. On 17 March 2020, he presented his credentials to Samuel Kutesa, Uganda's foreign minister. He reports to the nearest substantive

Nepal Nepal (; ne, नेपाल ), formerly the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal ( ne, सङ्घीय लोकतान्त्रिक गणतन्त्र नेपाल ), is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mai ...

ese embassy, in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

References

External links

Sudhir Ruparelia Makes Cover of Forbes AfricaCourt Orders Sudhir Arrest
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ruparelia, Sudhir Living people 1956 births Ambassadors of Nepal Ugandan people of Indian descent Businesspeople in education Businesspeople in agriculture Businesspeople in the hospitality industry Ugandan businesspeople in real estate Ruparelia Group

Biography

Personal life

Diplomatic Work

See also

References

External links