Dr. Rajan Mahtani is an established businessman in Zambia. In his more than three decades of business experience, Dr. Rajan Mahtani successfully instituted top companies in Zambia, including but not limited to Mahtani Group of Companies, Finsbury Investments and Finance Bank Zambia. Apart from his business acumen, Dr. Mahtani is also noted for his several philanthropic activities and charitable contributions. Since his early business success, Dr. Mahtani has been involved in several philanthropic contributions to numerous sectors of Zambia such as environment, economy, senior citizens and correctional facilities. One of his most impactful philanthropic contributions in the field of education has been instituting the Steven Malama award.
The Steven Malama award was instituted by Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani in memory of the late Steven Malama, a noted visionary in the field of law and legal education and a close friend of Dr. Rajan Mahtani. Late Steven Malama was known for persuading the Zambian Government towards merger of two distinct bars, Barrister’s Bar and Solicitor’s Bar. After the successful merger, many legal professionals and law enthusiasts are now able to complete bar affiliation in a much easier manner. Dr. Rajan Mahtani rightly decided that the best way to honour these contributions is to establish the Steven Malama award that would encourage law graduates and law students to be more like the late visionary.
The award was established in the year 2012 and was given for the first time in 2013. Since then, the award is given every year to deserving students. The recipient of the award include top graduating student of the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education and also qualifier of the bar in their first attempt. The award for the year 2018-019 was received by Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba. The award included a plaque, certificate and award money worth K15,000 that has helped deserving students with significant financial contributions. This philanthropic contribution by Dr. Rajan Mahtani was also shared at the Daily Mail.