Billionaire businessman and Chairman of the Ruparelia Group, Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia, has made a spirited pitch to the influential Lohana Community businessmen and businesswomen to invest in Uganda, saying the country presents a conducive environment for business growth.
Dr. Ruparelia, who is also the Chairman Board of Trustees of the Lohana Community in Uganda, was speaking at the ongoing 3-day Lohana International Business Forum, held at Speke Resort and Conference Centre, Munyonyo, on the outskirts of Kampala.
The Forum, under the theme, “Africa is Calling” has attracted over 800 businessmen and businesswomen from 28 countries around the world.
H.E President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni was the Chief Guest.
“Uganda has a conducive business climate for businesses to consistently grow. It has one of the fastest growing GDPs in the region,” he said, adding: “Uganda has many natural resources, a young and increasingly educated workforce, steady and rising middle income and is stable in terms of governance, including macro and micro economic policies, all of which make an ideal destination for long term investment. As you can see, some of our families came here 120 years ago and are still here”.
“Uganda lies at the heart of Africa and the Horn of Africa, sharing borders with Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, South Sudan and DRC and within proximity to Burundi. These 7 countries, form the East African community and have a population and market of over 300 million,” Dr. Sudhir further pitched to the Lohana international investors.
Dr. Sudhir also lauded H.E Yoweri Kaguta Museveni for stable governance, but most important for a pro-business leadership style.
“We are fortunate that the Ugandan President H.E Museveni is such a farsighted leader who understands and supports the business community of Uganda. He is always willing to listen to every business community’s needs, whenever the need arises,” he said, adding: “Under your guidance, we will certainly achieve our goal of promoting more investments, in Uganda”.
The Lohana International Business Forum has been created to foster a harmonious business environment and encourages sustainable and sustained investments amongst the community members. The forum follows Rao said the Lohana International Business Forum follows the highly successful Afro-Indian Investment Summit of 2022 which attracted investment projects worth 169.5 million dollars to Uganda.
Some of the Lohana community’s notable business groups/families include the Ruparelia Group, Madhvani Group, Mehta Group and the Kotecha Group. Other notable wealthy Lohana businessmen include Kishor Jobanputra of Picfare Group and Ketan Morjaria the founder of Orient Bank (now I&M Uganda).
“For decades now, the Lohana Community has played a significant role in the social-economic development of Uganda. We have invested in commercial activities including agro-processing, retail, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, banking, information technology, hospitality industry and education, among others,” Dr. Ruparelia spoke of the impact created by the Community.