I was returning
from Dar es Salaam last week and I found notice at the arrival hall in Entebbe
airport that said “The family of Sudhir and Jyotsna Ruparelia welcomes you to Uganda”. It must have been something like that but cannot say exactly what it
was. I wondered why this signs post was here but my mind said to me this man
has more money than half of all Ugandans put together, so he could sneeze and
these people catch a cold. May be he had just wanted to have this here because
he had that financial muscle to do it. Little did I know that he was welcoming
visitors to his daughter’s wedding. Well I read that the wedding was being done
the third time. This kind of pissed me off but I said to myself who am I to
decide how Sudhir spends his money. I don't think anybody should tell me how I spend
mine.
The questions that come to my mind as a Ugandan who has attempted
to contribute to removing poverty in the country through education I ask myself
what has Sudhir done that his contemporaries haven't done to make so much
money. How can we have Ugandans try to make as much money as Sudhir has done?
What do we learn from Sudhir. As Entrepreneurship scholars we are interested in
what we can learn from Sudhir. I am asking him through this media to engage our
graduate students on his motivations. , what it has taken him to make the tones
of money which enables him spend $2million on a wedding.
Pomp, Glamour as Ravi Marries Meera
Again
Love is a beautiful thing that deserves to be celebrated. Ravi
Kotecha met Meera Ruparelia eight years ago. She was 20 and he was 23.
The two lovebirds took the bold step and walked down the aisle
last November at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Hyde Park, one of London’s most
exclusive hotels.
The wedding was attended by only 200 guests, which called for
another reception, two days later, that had 900 guests at the Grosvenor,
another exclusive London Hotel. Sudhir flew hundreds of guests from different
parts of the world into London. But that wasn’t enough as it called for a
Kampala ceremony that coincided with Valentine’s Day.
Kotecha is a Kenyan businessman, also born to one of Mombasa’s real
estate and haulage honchos. He met Meera when he frequented Kampala where his
uncle, Bhasker Kotecha, owns Midcom, a giant mobile phone dealer in Uganda.
Meera is the daughter of
tycoon Sudhir Ruparelia, a man with a big heart and naturally with many friends.
He decided that his family, friends, business colleagues, associates and
contemporaries who didn’t make it to London deserved a piece of the pomp and
glamour.
You could say it was a big heart or simply Sudhir’s excesses. He threw not just a conventional wedding ceremony but a week-long celebration with bashes on each day.
The big day was Friday, which happened to be Valentine’s Day, when lovers exchanged vows, yet again and Sudhir officially handed over his daughter.
You could say it was a big heart or simply Sudhir’s excesses. He threw not just a conventional wedding ceremony but a week-long celebration with bashes on each day.
The big day was Friday, which happened to be Valentine’s Day, when lovers exchanged vows, yet again and Sudhir officially handed over his daughter.
It was a day particularly themed to Indian customs; colourful,
with the walkways carpeted with flowery decorations. Speke Resort Munyonyo, the
venue for the wedding, was beautifully decorated with flowery ropes hanging
from the trees. Guests ate and drank enough during the seven days when Munyonyo
was closed off to the public for the “mother of weddings”. This wedding went
down in the books of history as one of the most expensive, with reputable
financial magazine Forbes valuing it at $2m (about Sh5b), more expensive than
most of your foreign celebrities’ wedding ceremonies, including that of showbiz
couple David and Victoria Beckham, which cost $800,000 (about Shs2b).
It was an emotional
moment for the father of the bride, Sudhir, happy and sad for letting his
eldest daughter go, so he made sure it was memorable. The seven-day festivities
also included a Ugandan themed party on Thursday, with the entertainment and
the décor mirroring an African setting. Sudhir himself donned Nigerian attire
for that particular party.
Sunday was the day to wind down with boat cruises.
Sunday was the day to wind down with boat cruises.
But the biggest ball with over 2,500 guests was on Saturday.
During his speech at the ball, Sudhir was happy with the massive gathering of
family and friends and expressed his happiness, quoting wise counsel that was
passed down to him by his own father.
““A man’s wealth is not
judged by the size of his bank account but by the number of his friends,” he
said. This was confirmation that he is a wealthy man in all measures, as his
bank account is not in question, being the 24th richest African, according to
Forbes.
Sudhir, who has spent 37 years in marriage with his wife Jyotsna, gave Kotecha a piece of advice on how to make the marriage work.
Sudhir, who has spent 37 years in marriage with his wife Jyotsna, gave Kotecha a piece of advice on how to make the marriage work.
“Women are never wrong, they are always right, so there is no
point in arguing.” He advised the newlyweds to govern their marriage with the
principles of respect, love, care and honesty and prayed that God blesses them
with many children.
After the wining and
dining, guests got onto the dance floor till the wee hours of the
morning.
There was no better way to sum up the wedding, than Kotecha’s own brother who when called up to give a speech on behalf of his family said, “I’m never lost for words, but all I can say is, wow.”
============================ There was no better way to sum up the wedding, than Kotecha’s own brother who when called up to give a speech on behalf of his family said, “I’m never lost for words, but all I can say is, wow.”
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