The Lohana Community in Uganda has a new Board of Trustees after a successful Annual General Meeting held over the weekend, with prominent businessman Sudhir Ruparelia among the five members chosen to lead the organisation.
Lohana Executive Committee Chairman Janak Gadhia confirmed the results in a statement issued on Sunday, naming Dr. Sudhir Ruparelia, Dr. Hitesh Panchmatia, Dr. Chirag Kotecha, Mr. Bhasker Kotecha and Mr. Raj Sakaria as the incoming trustees.
“We thank all members for the successful AGM and continuous support given to the Executive Committee, Lohana Mahila Mandal and Lohana Youth Wing,” Gadhia said.
He congratulated the new board and acknowledged the contributions of outgoing trustees Mr. Kiran Bhimjiyani and Mr. Chetan Pabari, who served the community with distinction. The election marks a return to formal leadership for Ruparelia within one of Uganda’s most influential Asian business communities.
About the Lohana Community
The Lohana are a Hindu trading community with roots in Sindh and Gujarat, India. Many families migrated to East Africa in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as British colonial trade expanded across the region.
By 1970, an estimated 40,000 Lohanas were living across East Africa, with many setting up businesses in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Prominent figures such as the late Muljibhai Madhvani helped shape Uganda’s commercial landscape before the 1972 expulsion of Asians under Idi Amin’s regime.
After the expulsion, many Lohana families resettled in the United Kingdom, Canada and elsewhere. From the 1980s onwards, a number gradually returned to Uganda to rebuild their businesses and community institutions.
Today, the Lohana Community in Kampala runs cultural, religious and welfare programmes, including educational initiatives, while keeping a strong foothold in Uganda’s business sector. The newly elected board is expected to steer the community’s next chapter of cultural engagement, philanthropy and institutional growth.
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