Sudhir tops rich list in East Africa: Hogwash! How can he be richer than Presidents and army generals who have been involved in primitive capital accumulation through robbery of their states resources  and the looting of Congo mineral resources.  

 

My analysis

We need to bear in mind that corrupt East African states men have created  puppets business men who  are simply care takers of the wealth of these politicians. For example in Kampala some of the so called tycoons pretend to have over 20  commercial buildings yet the truth is that some of these belong to corrupt politicians. I know that Sudhir is a hard working business men but I really doubt that he is number one in east Africa.  

 

Sudhir tops rich list in East Africa

http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Sudhir-tops-rich-list-in-East-Africa/-/688334/1626342/-/wti2ox/-/index.html

By RICHARD WANAMBWA

Posted  Thursday, November 22  2012 at  02:00

Kampala
Sudhir Ruparelia is the wealthiest East African, and the 18th richest person in Africa, according to a new list released by Forbes Magazine.

The 56-year-old Kampala-based entrepreneur, who has interests in banking and real estate, hotel management and property development, is worth $900m (about Shs2.34 trillion), the publication indicates.

Contacted for comment in Kampala last evening, Mr Ruparelia told the Daily Monitor that he was delighted to have been recognised for his success in business, but said there was still more work ahead. “It is good to be acknowledged after such hard work, but there is more to achieve and this is just the beginning,” he added.

In its latest ranking, released yesterday, Forbes listed Nigerian tycoon Aliko Dangote as the richest African. His worth is put at $12 billion. But the magazine left out other wealthy East Africans, whose riches were deemed to be linked to their families.

Mr Ruparelia owns nearly 300 prime residential and commercial properties in Kampala and some neighbouring districts, including Jinja, Mukono and Wakiso. The magazine, quoting the Uganda Land Alliance, says that the businessman is the largest individual property owner in Uganda.

Some of his prime properties, include the Commonwealth Resort Munyonyo, which hosted the Commonwealth Heads of State and Government summit in 2007, Crane Towers located in Kampala’s central business district, and City House. He also owns Crane Forex Bureau, the high-cost Kampala International School in Bukoto, north of the city, and Kampala Parents School on the plush Naguru Hill residential area.

The Forbes report says: “Other assets include Uganda’s second largest commercial bank (Crane Bank), a thriving insurance outfit, a flourishing flower export business and stakes in some of the largest publicly-quoted companies in Uganda – and Ruparelia is East Africa’s richest man, debuting at number 18 on Forbes list of Africa’s 40 Richest this year with a fortune we estimate at $900 million. He is the only one on the list who is a Ugandan.”

Biography

Mr Ruparelia was born in 1956 in Kabatoro, Kasese, a small town in western Uganda. His parents owned three successful retail outlets in Kabatoro, and he honed his early business skills working with his parents.

In August 1972, when Mr Ruparelia, who speaks fluent Rutooro and Luganda, was only 16, President Idi Amin expelled all the Asians and Ugandans of Asian descent, his family found refuge in London. He took up a job in a factory making test tubes for laboratories. With the money he earned, he was able to pay rent for his room and buy food. He also enrolled for his Ordinary-Level exams. He went on to do his A-Levels in accountancy. His initial plan was to become an accountant, but Mr Ruparelia realized he enjoyed the thrill of making money even more.

That marked the end of his formal education. He later worked as a taxi driver
By 1974, he had saved up enough money to buy a house. He was only 18. The next few years were the most definitive in his life. In 1977, he got married to Jyostna, a banker. He returned to Uganda in 1985, with $25,000 and started scouting for opportunities.

He discovered that basic commodities were relatively scarce. Consequently, he started importing salt from Kenya. He also imported sugar and cigarettes from traders and became the sole distributor of East African Breweries products in Uganda, at the time when there was an acute scarcity of beer.

rwanambwa@ug.nationmedia.com