SETH AHMAD DAWOOD: A VISIONARY LEADER

Description

Seth Ahmad Dawood, one of the pioneering industrialists of Pakistan. He led a long eventful life and saw many ups and downs in his business. Yusuf Shirazi, a well-known entrepreneur with business interest in diverse fields, called Mr. Ahmad Dawood “a visionary rather than a business manager.” He recalled Mr. Ahmad Dawood telling him that his job was “to conceive and set up the project.” The running and management of the projects was the job that was left to his brothers and his sons. “He had the knack of conceiving high-tech and capital-intensive projects and all profitable.

Mr. Ahmad, son of Dawood, was born in Bantva, a small sleepy town in Kathiawar. His father was a trader. Mr. Ahmad found Bantva too small for his business acumen and migrated to Bombay. Just before Independence, Mr. Ahmad Dawood had established a trading house dealing in commodities, textiles, jute, and yarn, with branches in many cities and towns in pre-partition India.

“He was commanded by Quaid-i-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to migrate to Pakistan and set up an industry,” Meher Alavi, a former President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said.

With Adamjees and Valikas, Dawoods played the pioneering role in late forties and early fifties to create a business culture in what was then West Pakistan. Dawood Cotton Mills, an integrated textile project in 1951, must have been a dream in 1947. Karnaphuli Paper Mills was set up in East Pakistan by the EPIDC but acquired by Dawood who transformed it into a vibrant industrial unit. It met the newsprint requirements of the country before separation of the East Pakistan in 1971.

The strategy of diversification was marked by the setting up of Dawood Hercules Chemicals (Urea fertilizer), followed by Transpak (baby food, toothpaste, toothbrushes, and other consumer goods), Dawood Yamaha (Motorcycles), Dawlance (refrigerators and microwaves), Descon Engineering (construction), and Meiji Biscuits.

As a philanthropist, Seth Ahmed Dawood has made immense contributions in education and welfare services.

Ahmed Dawood was also the founder trustee of Al-Shifa Eye Hospital to which his Foundation has contributed more than Rs. 15 million. He also founded The Dawood Foundation in 1961 through which he established Dawood Engineering College in Karachi. In the early days, some of the subjects taught in this College were not being taught in any other university/college anywhere in Pakistan. Even after nationalization of this College, he provided casual financial aid to the institution. It is still a leading institution of technical education. The Foundation runs schools and other charitable institutions.

He was one of the key members to bring Memon community together and help the community. The community also formed Memon Bank in Kharadar area of Karachi.