Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the premier businessmen in Zambia who is noted for his business acumen, entrepreneurial spirit as well as his charitable and philanthropic contributions to the Zambian society and economy. One of these contributions has been the creation of the Steven Malama award in the year 2012, which was established for honouring the great contributions of the late Steven Malama.

The Steven Malama award has practically transformed the legal education system of Zambia. Apart from bringing nation-wide recognition and interest on the field of law, this award system has also improved the value and ranking of the institute. Now, students are found to be more dedicated and motivated to improve their studies for the award. While there have been numerous internal award systems by institutions, universities and colleges, the recognition of Steven Malama award is distinctive, partly due to the achievements by late Steven Malama. As such, the Steven Malama award is considered as one of the top educational awards in Zambia and the credit for this goes to Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani. Dr. Mahtani provided not only administrative and political support for the institution of the award, but also ensured its viability and credibility with the prize money awarded to winning students every year. This prize money is worth K15,000 which is a significant amount for deserving candidates, especially those coming from difficult financial backgrounds. Dr. Rajan Mahtani has never been the one to promote himself with this philanthropic and charitable activities and therefore, most of the students from the institute were unaware of Dr. Rajan Mahtani’s significant contribution in this award system. With this financial contribution, several students across the years have achieved this dreams, be it starting their own practice, getting training from top institutes as well as seed money for becoming entrepreneur. This amount has also helped many students to further their career by joining advanced legal programs and courses.