Dr. Rajan Lekhraj Mahtani is one of the few businessmen in Zambia who is known for his transparent and ethical business practices despite of tough situations such as developing a business empire in an underdeveloped and politically overwhelming nation such as Zambia. Despite the several economic and social challenges as well as widespread corruption across the nation, Dr. Rajan Mahtani has been able to maintain a clean and transparent image across all his businesses. Apart from his businesses, Dr. Rajan Mahtani is also noted for his significant charitable and philanthropic contributions. Most of these contributions go undetected as there are no public promotions or advertisements about these philanthropic contributions like most of the other businesses.

One of the most critical philanthropic contributions by Dr. Rajan Mahtani in the field of education has been the institution of the Steven Malama award. The Steven Malama award was instituted in the year 2012 in collaboration with Finance Bank Zambia wherein Dr. Mahtani holds the position of the Chairman and ZIALE (Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education) Institute which was given the responsibility of disbursing the award. The award was given for the first time in 2013 and since then it is being given on an yearly basis during the annual gala event. Dr. Rajan Mahtani himself presents the award to the deserving students.

The award is given to the top graduating students from the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education, and the top graduating student must also qualify for bar in their first attempt. The award carries a plaque, a certificate as well as cash prize worth K15,000 which has been of significant financial support for the winning candidates. Emmanuel Bwalya Kaluba from the institute was the winner of the Steven Malama award for the year 2018-19. Emmanuel also wrote an article thanking Dr. Rajan Mahtani for his significant contributions in recognising law education, later published at the Daily Mail.