The Dawood family started from modest origins when Ahmed Dawood began trading in pre-partition India and was eventually joined by his brothers. At partition, the family opted to move to Pakistan, to develop as Mr. Jinnah put it the “grand opportunity” that is Pakistan. The family thus made the transition from business to industry, first establishing Dawood Cotton Mills Limited in 1952. The industry expanded rapidly. Senior members of the family ensured that the education of all successive generations be given the utmost importance. The family today has more MBAs than any other family in Pakistan.
The family diversified by the setting up of Dawood Hercules Chemicals, followed by Transpak, Dawood Yamaha, Dawlance and Descon Engineering, as well as philathropic ventures including Dawood Public School for Girls and Dawood College of Engineering.
A move into the financial sector was the next step. It was put into effect with the establishment of Central Insurance Company (Cyan Investments), BRR Capital Modaraba, BRR Second Modaraba, and Equity International Modarba. [All three Modarabas have since been merged into one, namely BRR International Modaraba (now BRR Guardian Modaraba)]. Today the branch of the family dealing with the financial sector, under the umbrella of the First Dawood Group (FDG), includes not just BRR, but also First Dawood Investment Bank, Dawood Equities (Pvt) Ltd., Dawood Family Takaful Ltd. Dawood International (Pvt) and Dawood Capital Management Ltd. (DCM).
FDG has further diversified its interests by setting up Dawood Power, an eco-friendly power generation project, as well as the new zero carbon credit building BRR Towers.
