City tycoon Sudhir of the Ruparelia group celebrated gracing the Forbes Magazine cover for April 2014 last Thursday at Kabira Country club in Bukoto amongst friends, family and business associates.
The Forbes Africa managing editor Chris Bishop while making his remarks at the event said the criteria for making it to the magazine is clear; all you have to do is have shs 5 billion net worth and you will be in the magazine.
Sudhir thanked his associates, family and friends for their support and said that he would not have made it this far without their support. Patrick Bitature, Tom Mugenga, Godfrey Kirumira were some of the prominent guests at the event.
Sudhir Ruparelia, East Africa’s richest man, is new to the Forbes World’s Billionaires list this year. He is the founder of the Ruparelia Group, Uganda’s largest conglomerate, with interests in property, banking, education, insurance and agriculture. It owns a chain of hotels, hundreds of commercial and residential properties in Kampala, a country club, a chain of foreign exchange bureaus, two secondary schools and Crane Bank, one of Uganda’s top three commercial banks.
In 2013 he acquired Uganda’s Victoria University, promising to invest $10 million in the next few years to make it one of East Africa’s finest.
He was born in Uganda but moved to the United Kingdom with his parents at age 16 after President Idi Amin expelled all Asians in 1972. He worked small jobs in the U.K. and returned to Uganda in 1985 with $25,000 in savings. He started a commodities trading business and foreign exchange bureaus. His son and daughter, Rajiv and Meera occupy senior positions in his company. (Forbes.com)
Staff Writer.