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Ugandan billionaire Sudhir Ruparelia's Ruparelia Group will open Paradise Island Resort, a private island retreat on Lake Victoria, on Dec. 1, adding a new property to the hotel business that has become one of the main pillars of his fortune.
The resort sits on a 19-acre island about 20 minutes by speedboat from Speke Resort Munyonyo, the group's flagship hotel on the lakeshore south of Kampala. It runs entirely on solar power and has been designed as an eco-friendly destination, with indigenous trees left in place and a neighboring rocky island known for its birdlife.
Paradise Island has 38 units, built in two phases of 22 and 16. They include 10 standard cottages, 11 cliff-hanger cottages overlooking the lake, 14 deluxe two-bedroom cottages and three executive villas. The group is marketing the resort to couples and families as well as companies, with space for conferences, corporate retreats, weddings and private events. Workers have also built a man-made beach of about 500 meters, using a purpose-built barge to ferry sand and materials across the water.
A long build
Construction started on May 1, 2021, and the opening has slipped several times. The group had aimed to open the resort in November 2025, then around Easter this year, and later in June. By November last year, structural work was about 95% complete.
The project is led by Sheena Ruparelia, the chairman's daughter. The company has not disclosed how much it spent on the resort.
Paradise Island joins a hospitality portfolio that already includes Speke Resort Munyonyo, which has hosted major international meetings including the 2007 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting and the Non-Aligned Movement summit in January 2024. The group also owns Kabira Country Club, Speke Hotel and other properties in and around Kampala.
Ruparelia, whose family left Uganda when Idi Amin expelled the country's Asians in 1972, returned from Britain in 1985 and built the Ruparelia Group from a trading business into one of Uganda's largest conglomerates. It spans real estate, hotels, schools, floriculture, insurance and media. Property is the biggest part of the group, which owns hundreds of commercial and residential buildings across Kampala.
He is Uganda's richest person, with a fortune estimated at about $1.1 billion.
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