Ahmad Dawood


Seth Ahmad Dawood was a Pakistani industrialist, pioneer merchant and a philanthropist. He was the founder of the Dawood Group and Dawood Foundation which established a college, Dawood Engineering College, named after him.

Early life and career

Born in Bantva, Kathiawar peninsula in Saurashtra, Gujarat, British India, to a Memon family, Ahmed got introduced to business basics at an early age through working at his grandfather's shop of cotton yarn and various utilities. In 1920, he established his own shop in Bombay and succeeded in establishing a trading house there that dealt in commodities, textiles, jute and yarn. He migrated to Karachi, Pakistan in 1947 and initiated a number of industrial projects in East and West Pakistan upon the appeal and encouragement of Muhammad Ali Jinnah, the founder of then new state of Pakistan in 1947. Dawood Group's Karnaphuli Paper Mills used to meet the newsprint requirements of Pakistan before separation of East Pakistan in 1971. Ahmed Dawood and Dawood Group of companies had played a key role in industrializing of Karachi city of Pakistan.

Business setbacks

Ahmed Dawood died on 2 January 2002 at age of 103 years after a protracted illness in Karachi. Among his survivors are two sons Hussain Dawood and Aziz Dawood, who, along with his nephew Abdul Razak Dawood, attended his funeral in Karachi.

Legacy