Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is among those few private entrepreneurs in Zambia who does not promote or advertise their philanthropic activities and charitable contributions. As a result, not many of the media and educational fraternity were aware of the fact that Dr. Rajan Mahtani funded the Steven Malama award. With the law education of Zambia, the Steven Malama award has achieved a significant reputation. This reputation has been as a result of significant achievements.

The Steven Malama award is given to the top graduating law student from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal education. The award was inaugurated in the year 2013 and the award for the year 2018-19 was given recently. This prestigious award not only improves competitive attitude and hardworking behaviour among the law students of ZIALE, but has also attracted many law firms and private businesses to the institutes, thereby enhancing its overall competitiveness and overall ranking in the education market.

Dr. Rajan Mahtani, who is the Chairman of Finance Bank Zambia, established this award in memory of late Steven Malama. Dr. Rajan Mahtani shared a close friendship with late Steven Malama and identified him as a distinguished legal professional, bar veteran and contributor of law improvements in Zambia. For instance, Steven Malama’s contributions were instrumental in bringing the Solicitor’s and Barrister’s bar into a single and merged bar after significant persuasion of the Government of Zambia. It was therefore, a right step by Dr. Rajan Mahtani to make this name memorable and inspire numerous future generations of law professional to dedicate themselves towards upliftment of the Zambian legal framework.

The 2018-19 recipient of the award was Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba. After receiving this award, Emmanuel penned an article in which he thanked Dr. Mahtani for his significant contribution in increasing recognition of law education in Zambia. The award carries a plaque, certificate as well as prize money worth K15,000