Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood Bawany (30 June 1880 – 27 January 1948) was a Pakistani businessman and philanthropist who founded

Adamjee Group Adamjee Group of Companies is a conglomerate company based primarily in Karachi, Pakistan. The group was headed by Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood. As of 2007, it is unofficially estimated that the owners of Adamjee Group are among the top 40 wealthiest ...

. He was also an activist in the

Pakistan Movement The Pakistan Movement ( ur, , translit=Teḥrīk-e-Pākistān) was a political movement in the first half of the 20th century that aimed for the creation of Pakistan from the Muslim-majority areas of British India. It was connected to the p ...

Early life

Adamjee Haji Dawood was born in 1880 in Jetpur, Kathiawar, Gujarat in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in a

Memon Memon may refer to: Ethnic group and language * Memon people, an ethnic group originating in the ancient Sindh (modern day Pakistan) * Memoni language, the language of Memon people historically associated with Kathiawar, Gujarat, India People w ...

family. While still in his teens, he ventured out to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

and started operating as an independent businessman. The first few years of his career were spent in the rice, match-book-making for lighting home stoves and jute trade. By 1922, he had accumulated sufficient resources and a strong presence in the commodities markets, enabling him to set up his first industrial venture – a match factory in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military governme ...

. In 1927, he returned to

India India, officially the Republic of India ( Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the ...

to establish a jute mill in

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comm ...

. The

Adamjee Jute Mills Adamjee Jute Mill was a jute mill in Bangladesh. It was established in Narayanganj in 1950 by the Adamjee Group. It was the second jute mill in East Pakistan (present day Bangladesh) after Bawa Jute Mill which was first Jute Mill in East Pakist ...

Limited was the third jute mill to be set up by an Indian and the first Muslim-owned public company in

. To capture this emerging niche, Adamjee along with Mr. G. D. Birla of Birla Jute, broke into this monopolistic trade controlled by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sout ...

until that time. He was also an avid educationist and philanthropist. He was responsible for financing and helping a number of educational institutions in

and

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...

Awards and recognition

* In recognition for his services to his countrymen, the British government knighted him in June 1938. * The

Government of Pakistan The Government of Pakistan ( ur, , translit=hakúmat-e pákistán) abbreviated as GoP, is a federal government established by the Constitution of Pakistan as a constituted governing authority of the four provinces, two autonomous territorie ...

honoured Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood by minting a postage stamp titled 'Pioneers of Freedom' on 14 August 1999. *

Adamjee Government Science College Adamjee Government Science College (AGSC) ( ur, ) is an educational institution in Karachi, Pakistan. It was established in 1961, by All Pakistan Memon Educational and Welfare Society through the financial help and efforts of late Sir Adamje ...

is named after his family.

Career

By the 1940s, Dawood had become a prominent figure in the business circles of India and Burma. His recognition was acknowledged by

Muhammad Ali Jinnah Muhammad Ali Jinnah (, ; born Mahomedali Jinnahbhai; 25 December 1876 – 11 September 1948) was a barrister, politician, and the founder of Pakistan. Jinnah served as the leader of the All-India Muslim League from 1913 until the ...

, who became a good friend and appointed him advisor to the freedom movement of the Muslims, which eventually led to the creation of Pakistan. Dawood convinced the entire

and many from other

Gujarati Muslim The term Gujarati Muslim is usually used to signify an Indian Muslim from the state of Gujarat in western coast of India. Most Gujarati Muslims have Gujarati language as their mother tongue, but some communities such as the Momin Ansari, Memons ...

communities to migrate to

. With this vision in mind again at the request of Jinnah, he also established two major institutions along with Mirza Ahmad Ispahani i.e. The Muslim Commercial Bank Limited and the Orient Airways Limited, forerunner of

Pakistan International Airlines Pakistan International Airlines ( ur, ; abbreviated PIA, ur, ) is an international airline that serves as the national flag carrier of Pakistan under the administrative control of the Secretary to the Government of Pakistan for Aviation. It ...

.Profile of Adamjee Haji Dawood on Dawn (newspaper)
Published 10 October 1999. Retrieved 17 October 2017 The purpose of this was to assist the migration process by providing transport of Muslims to Pakistan and to create banking facilities in the new country, Pakistan.

Death and legacy

Once Pakistan was created, Dawood and his sons established businesses in both East (now Bangladesh) & West Pakistan. Following financial difficulties in Pakistan in January 1948, Jinnah invited him to participate in the establishment of the

State Bank of Pakistan The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) ( ur, ) is the Central Bank of Pakistan. Its Constitution, as originally laid down in the State Bank of Pakistan Order 1948, remained basically unchanged until 1 January 1974, when the bank was Nationalized and ...

, it was during this meeting that he suffered a heart attack and later died on the night of 27 January 1948. The founder of Pakistan,

stated on his death that his death would leave a vacuum in Muslim business community which would be hard to fill. Jinnah called it a "National Loss" to Pakistan and said that Adamjee Haji Dawood was a loyal Muslim and had rendered great service in our struggle for Pakistan. On 27 August 1947, Mohammad Ali Jinnah's finance team approached Adamjee Dawood for help because India had not released the share of funds due to Pakistan. So the newly created country Pakistan was in financial trouble. Adamjee Haji Dawood wrote a '

blank cheque A blank cheque in the literal sense is a cheque that has no monetary value written in, but is already signed. In the figurative sense, it is used to describe a situation in which an agreement has been made that is open-ended or vague, and theref ...

' secured against all his industrial assets and personal wealth which enabled the country to handle its financial crisis successfully.http://www.amazingpakistanis.com/sir-adamjee-haji-dawood.html, A tribute to Adamjee Haji Dawood on amazingpakistanis.com website. Retrieved 17 October 2017

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dawood, Adamjee Haji 1880 births 1948 deaths Memon people Gujarati people Pakistan Movement activists Businesspeople from Karachi Pakistani people of Gujarati descent Businesspeople awarded knighthoods Pakistani industrialists Pakistani philanthropists Pakistani knights Knights Bachelor All India Muslim League members 20th-century philanthropists