CSW Awards Sudhir Ruparelia With A Lifetime Achievement Award For His Charitable Work

By Gad Masereka

The Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT) has given Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia, a billionaire businessman and co-founder of the Ruparelia Foundation, the Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his charitable contributions to the trust, particularly the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary.

At the Trust’s 25th Anniversary Celebration held at the Speke Resort Munyonyo, one of the Group’s hotels, Sudhir, who is also the founder and chairman of the Ruparelia Group, one of Uganda’s largest business conglomerates with investments in financial services, real estate, education services, hospitality, agriculture, and media and broadcasting, received an award alongside other contributors to the Trust.

Dr. Jane Goodall, an English anthropologist and primatologist who founded the Jane Goodall Institute, attended the dinner as well as other events. The Trust and Sanctuary were both co-founded by the Institute.

In a recorded video speech, the businessman said, “We at the Ruparelia Group and I personally are grateful to have been accorded a chance to be part of 23 of these 25 years of the Ngamba Island and pledge to continue being lifelong partners in this noble cause.”

Sudhir received the Lifetime Achievement Award for his considerable and ongoing support of the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary over a 25-year period.

Just two years after the sanctuary’s creation in 1997, the group began working with the trust in 1999. The 1999 Census Project and various other Ruparelia Group events, like the Ngambap20 Anniversary Banquet, are some of the efforts in which the Ruparelias have actively engaged.

The Ruparelias strengthened their relationship in March 2018 when they named one of the chimpanzees at Ngamba Island Ruparelia after the group and adopted it for life.

Additionally, the Ruparelias formally merged their work with the Trust under the umbrella of the Ruparelia Foundation of the Ruparelia Group.

Since that time, Sudhir and I have had the honor of making an annual donation to the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary in order to provide “Ruparelia” (the chimpanzee) and all other rescued chimpanzees with a safe home to live as well as the food, medical attention, and affection they require.

At the Ngamba Island Jubilee Dinner held at Speke Resort Munyonyo, Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia was presented with the Lifetime Achievement Award in honor of his considerable and ongoing support of the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Refuge over a 25-year period.

“We hold the Chimpanzee Sanctuary project in the highest regard. It is a crucial part of the Ruparelia Foundation’s environmental and wildlife conservation pillar, which was established in 2012 by my wife Jyostna Ruparelia and me.

The family’s corporate social responsibility and sustainability effort, the Foundation, operates its programs around the idea of “Enriching Lives Together.”

Sports, education, and talent development, as well as the arts, cultures, religion, and heritage, are additional pillars. Another one is helping the weak. The foundation has so far benefited more than 600 initiatives and projects.

“I’d like to express my gratitude to the Trust for granting us the chance to join you as Partners in Wildlife Welfare. We also wish you a long life of happiness and success. I also want to congratulate the Jane Goodall Institute and the creators of the Chimpanzee Sanctuary & Wildlife Conservation Trust (CSWCT), commonly known as the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, for their more than 25 years as partners in the welfare of Uganda’s wildlife.