By Frank Kamuntu
Business magnate and Ruparelia Group Chairman Sudhir Ruparelia has offered a rare and deeply personal account of his family’s roots in Uganda, his childhood growing up near wildlife in Kasese, and the difficult circumstances that forced him to leave the country during the 1972 expulsion of Asians.
Speaking during a conversation with Pan African Pyramid (PAP) speaker Andrew Irumba Katusabe at Crane Chambers on Friday, Ruparelia described himself as a fourth-generation Ugandan whose family history in East Africa stretches back more than a century.
According to Ruparelia, his great-grandfather first arrived in Mombasa in 1897 before the family later settled in Uganda. His father was born in Kampala in 1932, while he himself was born in 1956 at Nakasero Hospital, where the national blood bank stands today. His children were also born in Uganda, making the family one of the longest-established Asian-Ugandan families in the country.
“We are four generations in Uganda,” Ruparelia said, emphasizing the depth of his family’s connection to the country.
He recalled spending much of his childhood in Katwe – Kabatoro, a small town near Queen Elizabeth National Park in Kasese District. Life there was unlike anything most Ugandans experience today.
Ruparelia painted vivid images of elephants, lions, buffaloes, hippos and antelopes roaming close to family homes. One of his most memorable childhood stories involved elephants regularly visiting his family compound at night to search through food waste.
He recounted an incident when his mother had travelled away from home and no cooking had taken place. When elephants arrived expecting food remnants in the garbage bin and found nothing, they became agitated and knocked down part of the family’s house hwall.
Another unforgettable memory involved his father’s first vehicle, a Volkswagen. During an outing to view lions in the game park, the vehicle suddenly stalled directly in front of a pride of about twenty lions.
The unexpected breakdown caused panic among the family as they struggled to restart the car while surrounded by the predators. Fortunately, the engine eventually started and they were able to drive away at a terrific.
Despite these unusual experiences, Ruparelia described his upbringing as that of a middle-class family. His family operated a shop and petrol station in Kabatoro while placing strong emphasis on education.
At the age of five, he was enrolled in boarding school in Kampala, where he studied from Primary One to Primary Five before continuing his education in Jinja between 1966 and 1970. He later returned to Kampala for secondary education.
However, his studies were interrupted by one of the most dramatic events in Uganda’s history.
In 1972, President Idi Amin ordered the expulsion of Asians from Uganda, giving them 90 days to leave the country. Ruparelia revealed that he remained in Uganda until the very last day of the deadline.
While many families left early, he chose to stay behind, even after his parents had departed.
“I wanted to stay,” he explained, noting that Uganda was the only home he had ever known.
He said he held a Ugandan passport and considered himself Ugandan by birth. His attachment to the country was so strong that even amid growing uncertainty and insecurity, he hesitated to leave.
Eventually, as towns emptied and conditions became increasingly difficult, he decided to depart. On November 5, 1972, at just 16 years old, he boarded one of the final flights out of Uganda.
Remarkably, Ruparelia personally arranged his departure by purchasing his own airline ticket. His parents had left him with approximately Shs300,000, a significant amount of money at the time.
Demonstrating a spirit of generosity that would later become associated with his philanthropic activities, he said he used part of the money to purchase airline tickets for other families who could not afford to leave.
Among those he assisted was a family of five.
Reflecting on the gesture, Ruparelia said helping others was consistent with the values of his culture, which encourages sharing resources with the less privileged.
His departure marked the end of one chapter and the beginning of another that would eventually see him rebuild his life in the United Kingdom before returning to Uganda and becoming one of East Africa’s most prominent entrepreneurs. Stay tuned as we roll out a special series of in-depth articles from this exclusive conversation with Sudhir Ruparelia. The series explores his challenging years in London as a young refugee, the remarkable story of how he met his wife, the factors that inspired his return to Uganda, and the journey that saw him build one of Africa’s most respected and successful business empires. Through personal reflections and untold experiences, Sudhir shares the defining moments that shaped his life, career and legacy.
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