The Steven Malama award is by far the most significant contributions from Dr. Rajan Mahtani in the field of education. This contribution is not one-time affair but commitment for a lifetime from Dr. Rajan Mahtani. The award was established for honouring late Steven Malama, one of the most distinguished and noted legal professional from Zambia. The contributions from late Steven Malama has been significant and Dr. Rajan Mahtani is aware of these contributions as the former was a close friend of the noted businessman. Late Steven Malama’s effort were instrumental in persuading Government of Zambia to merge two distinct bars, the Barrister’s Bar and the Solicitor’s bar, into a single bar. This merger has helped numerous law professional, law graduates and legal enthusiasts to get affiliation and start their practice with lesser bureaucratic hurdles. Late Steven Malama has been a role model for the law professional in Zambia and Dr. Rajan Mahtani rightly decided to establish an educational award in his name for honouring his several contributions in the field.
The Steven Malama award was instituted in the year 2012 by Dr. Rajan Mahtani and collaboration of Finance Bank Zambia where he is the Chairman. The award was given for the first time in the year 2013 and since then, it is presented on an annual basis at the gala dinner and Dr. Rajan Mahtani himself presents the award to the deserving candidates from the institution. The award is given to the top graduating candidate from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education. Apart from achieving the top status in the institution, the winning student must also qualify for bar in their first attempt. The award for the year 2018-19 was received by Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba, who also wrote an article thanking Dr. Mahtani for his contributions in increasing recognition of law education in Zambia. The article was later published by the Zambia Mail.
