Sudhir Ruparelia Opens Up on Life as a Refugee, Hard Labour Jobs, and the Road Back to Uganda

Sudhir Ruparelia has recounted the remarkable journey that took him from a teenage refugee arriving in the United Kingdom to one of East Africa’s most influential entrepreneurs, detailing the hardship, discipline, and defining choices that shaped his path across decades.

Speaking during an interview at Crane Chambers, the Ruparelia Group Chairman revisited his early life after the 1972 expulsion of Asians from Uganda, describing how he landed in the UK with little certainty about what lay ahead. He arrived in Britain in the early hours of November 6, 1972 and was first taken to a government-run refugee reception facility set up under resettlement arrangements for displaced families.

After receiving basic support, he moved to London the next day to stay with relatives. Like many Ugandan Asian families rebuilding their lives at the time, conditions were tight. He shared a modest two-bedroom house with several relatives, a situation that reflected the financial strain and uncertainty of starting over in a new country.

As his parents later joined him through council housing support, Ruparelia began moving between towns in search of work. His early years in Britain took him through industrial areas such as Birmingham, Manchester, and Stockport, where he tried to secure stable employment in factories and entry-level jobs.

One of the most difficult moments he recalled involved traveling with an uncle to meet a man who had promised them jobs at Ford Motor Company. After arriving at the man’s home and finding him absent, they waited for hours and eventually slept outside using cardboard for shelter. By morning, they were still there when workers delivering mail and milk arrived. The man later returned and apologized, but the job opportunity did not materialize, partly due to age restrictions and workplace hiring rules at the time.

Despite setbacks, he eventually found factory work involving physically demanding tasks, including operating beneath industrial machinery used in laboratory production processes. The experience, he said, strengthened his discipline but also pushed him to look for better opportunities.

At one point, he applied to join the Royal Air Force, passed the required tests, and viewed military service as a potential route to education and long-term stability. However, because he was under 18, parental consent was required. His mother refused, influenced by her own experiences and concerns about military life, effectively ending that path.

He returned to London and continued working while pursuing education, living in a small one-bedroom apartment. During this period, he worked multiple jobs, including supermarket shifts in stocking and bakery support roles, earning around £15 a week. To supplement his income, he also worked weekends as a taxi driver, often spending entire weekends on the road from Friday night through Sunday night.

Through years of strict saving and long working hours, he gradually built capital. By the age of 20 in 1976, he had saved approximately £6,000 and purchased his first house for £15,250, using a mortgage to cover the remaining cost. That purchase became the foundation of his early property expansion, which later grew into a small portfolio of multiple homes.

It was also during this period that he met the woman who would later become his wife. Their first interaction came unexpectedly on a London bus while he was traveling with a cousin. After noticing two young women on the upper deck, the cousin recognized them from a supermarket where they worked. That encounter led Ruparelia to take weekend work at the same store, where he eventually met her while she worked as a cashier and pursued her studies.

Their relationship faced early resistance from her family, who reportedly preferred a professional career match for their daughter. Despite that, she chose to remain in the relationship, offering support during his early financial struggles and property investments.

The couple married in London in 1977 and later began discussions about starting a family. Ruparelia admitted he initially hesitated due to concerns about financial responsibility and the demands of raising children, but the couple eventually went on to have three children: Meera, Sheena, and Rajiv.

In 1985, after more than a decade of building a life in Britain, he made a decisive move that would reshape his future. He returned to Uganda, a choice he described as deeply personal. “Africa is either in your blood or it is not in your blood,” he reflected, explaining that encouragement from relatives and a sense of opportunity back home influenced his decision.

He first traveled through Nairobi before arriving in Uganda later that year, initially alone while his wife remained in the United Kingdom. That return marked the beginning of a new phase in his life, as he shifted into business and began trading in basic commodities such as salt before expanding into larger ventures.

From those early steps, his business interests steadily grew into what is now the Ruparelia Group, spanning multiple sectors of the economy. In 1991, he purchased his first house in Uganda, a moment he later described as a symbol of his full return and long-term commitment to the country he never stopped calling home.