Adamjee Haji Dawood

Who was Adamjee Haji Dawood?

Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood was a renowned businessman and philanthropist of his time in undivided British India and later Pakistan.

The Adamjee name has been a prominent and highly reputed name amongst the business circles of the Indian subcontinent throughout the 20th century.

The House of Adamjee was founded in Burma by the illustrious Memon, Sir Adamjee Haji Dawood who was born in 1880 in Jetpur town of Gujarat. Whilst still in his teens, he ventured out to Burma and started operating as an independent businessman. The first few years of his career were spent in rice, matches & jute trade. With his keen business sense and financial acumen, he met with early success.

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 [now Yangon]. In 1927, he returned to India to establish a jute mill in Calcutta. The Adamjee Jute Mills Ltd. was the third jute mill to be set up by an Indian and the first Muslim public company. 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.