Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is a businessman in Zambia known for his transparent and ethical business practices. He is also noted for his several philanthropic and charitable activities. Among these philanthropic activities, a significant one was the creation of the Steven Malama award. This award is named after the late Steven Malama, a distinct legal professional and member of the bar.

The Steven Malama award has been established in collaboration with the Finance Bank Zambia whose chairman is Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani and the ZIALE (Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education). The award is given to the top graduating student from the ZIALE who has also qualified for the bar in their first attempt. The award carries a plaque, certificate and prize money worth K15,000 which is a significant financial contribution. This combination of financial incentive and recognition motivates students of the ZIALE Institute every year to work harder and perform better, increasing the overall skills and competencies of the graduating legal students. The Steven Malama award was instituted in the year 2012 and given for the first time in the year 2013. After looking into the response from the students and recognition from the legal fraternity, Dr. Rajan Mahtani decided to give this award to worthy students on an annual basis. Thus, every year the top graduating student from the institute receives this award for this hard work, persistence and resilience towards becoming distinct legal professional and uplift the current legal infrastructure of Zambia. A positive after-effect of this annual recognition of top legal graduates was the rise of the institute’s ranking. The overall motivation and learning increased and at the same time a greater number of students started taking the course with the objective of becoming top legal graduate. Thus, it can be said that the philanthropic act from Dr. Rajan Mahtani had significant positive ripple-effect resulting in the overall upliftment of the law education system of Zambia.