Gradually, he expanded his business, and established a steel rolling mill. Today, it has expanded into the Devki Group which primarily deals in steel, cement, infrastructure and real estate. It was not easy. In the first factory, he laboured with the workers and developed a close rapport to treat them as his family members. The big competitors undercut him; so his raw materials piled up along with huge unsold stocks. He had no cash to pay his workers or his bank loan. In this desperate situation, the prices of metal products rocketed three times in a short period and he was able to sell his stock and pay wages and the bank loan.

Since then, he has expanded his business. In 1992, he set up a small steel rolling mill near Nairobi to manufacture roofing and fencing materials. Now Raval’s Devki Group owns four such mills, two cement factories in Kenya, and one in Ethiopia, Uganda and the Congo with $650 million in annual income. The group employs more than 4,000 workers and is the largest building materials company in East and Central Africa.

Awarded the Order of the Burning Spear, the highest civilian award of Kenya, and a special philanthropy award by the British government, he has been interviewed in many African media, Times of India and made it to the front page of Forbes Africa this year.

Raval’s priority is helping the needy as he donates millions for education, nutrition and health care in Kenya and other African countries. “I am deeply influenced by Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa,” he told Times of India, “I believe that wealth should be considered as a trust of the whole society and as trustees, individuals should use it for the benefit of society.”