Sudhir Ruparelia’s Quiet Act of Generosity Amid Personal Grief Honors Fallen Tennis Icon Cedric Babu

Even in the shadow of his own unfathomable loss, Ugandan billionaire Sudhir Ruparelia extended compassion to another grieving family this week, emerging as one of the most significant donors to the failed medical fundraiser for late tennis champion and media personality Cedric Babu Ndilima.

The Ruparelia family’s £2,500 (Shs12.8 million) contribution stood as the second-largest donation in the urgent campaign to fund Babu’s heart transplant—a gesture made more poignant by the fact that Ruparelia buried his own son, Rajiv, just weeks earlier .

“Another son of ours has left this world,” Ruparelia wrote in a private message to TheSpy Uganda, accompanying the words with a rare personal photograph showing Babu and Rajiv together. “May Cedric’s soul rest in peace. Here with Rajiv—may they both rest in peace.” The subdued eloquence of the tribute revealed a man channeling personal sorrow into communal solidarity .

The fundraising effort for Babu, who collapsed during a tennis tournament in Kigali before being airlifted to Nairobi’s Aga Khan Hospital, had aimed to secure £300,000 for an emergency transplant. Despite a global outpouring that included donations from Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios and Ugandan business leaders, the campaign reached only 13% of its target before Babu succumbed to heart failure on June 1 at age 46 .

The shortfall laid bare the brutal economics of medical crises in a region where even prominent figures confront systemic healthcare gaps—a reality underscored by Parliament Deputy Speaker Thomas Tayebwa’s funeral remarks about Uganda’s ongoing struggles to provide advanced cardiac care .

Yet the campaign’s logistical shortcomings couldn’t dim the symbolic resonance of contributions like Ruparelia’s. Here was a magnate who built his fortune in banking and hospitality, now quietly redirecting resources and emotional capital to honor Babu’s legacy as a Davis Cup athlete, Uganda Tennis Association leader, and champion of grassroots sports development .

Their lives had intersected in Uganda’s tight-knit elite circles, but the connection ran deeper—both men understood the weight of nurturing young talent, whether through Ruparelia’s education sector investments or Babu’s kinetic work mentoring athletes like his son Cillian, a rising tennis prospect .

The collective grief has revealed unexpected filaments of unity. At Rubaga Cathedral’s requiem mass, politicians and business leaders sat shoulder-to-shoulder with sports stars and artists, all drawn by Babu’s rare ability to bridge Uganda’s disparate worlds . Meanwhile, Ruparelia’s gesture—unprompted and understated—offered a masterclass in leadership through vulnerability.

In a nation where wealthy philanthropists often publicize their giving, his donation arrived without fanfare, a private act of recognition between one grieving father and another.

As Babu was laid to rest in Kamengo, the enduring lesson may reside in what went unspoken. Neither wealth nor fame could avert these tragedies, but in their aftermath, the quietest acts often resonate loudest. For Ruparelia, no amount of money could bring back Rajiv—just as no last-minute surge of donations could save Babu. Yet in honoring Babu’s memory while bearing fresh wounds of his own, he reminded Uganda that even broken hearts can still give.