Sudhir Ruparelia

Sudhir Ruparelia (Born 17 January 1956 at Mengo Hospital, in a suburb of Kampala, Uganda) is a businessman and entrepreneur of Indian origin whom Forbes listed as the Wealthiest Ugandan and Africa's 24th Wealthiest Individual in November 2013. He studied in Kampala and Jinja, but during Idi Amin's 1972 Expulsion of Asians from Uganda, Sudhir fled to the UK and started working as a taxi driver besides completing his A Level. After many other casual jobs, he returned to Uganda in 1985 with savings worth $25,000 which he transformed into $1.1 Billion within a number of years.

Quotes

• When starting out, ensure your business has adequate capital for growth.
  • Interview with New Vision

• If I owned half of the buildings in Kampala, I'd probably be god. Reports of my property holdings are quite frankly, grossly exaggerated. I don't own half of Kampala as people suggest, but I own quite a lot. And I've worked very hard for it...
  • Interview with Ventures Africa (2013)

• It is not the amount of money we have invested to buy the institution that is important, it is what we intend to do with it. I plan to invest about $10 Million (about 26 Billion UgX) in this process in the next few years, to give this university a new strong identity.
  • Talking about the Victoria University Purchase

Quotes about Sudhir

• "Singa nze Sudhir omugagga, nandikunaziza ne sente..." (English translation: "If I were Sudhir the tycoon, then I would have showered you with money...")
  • Lyrics in the Luganda song "Singa" by Bobi Wine