[1][2] After initial schooling in the UK, Dawood studied and graduated in mining engineering from the Newcastle University.

In 1968 he obtained his master's degree in business administration (MBA) from the Columbia University.

[3] He is a nephew of the late Seth Ahmed Dawood (1905–2002) who was considered one of the pioneering industrialists of Pakistan.

After his father and the siblings decided by the late 1970s and early 1980s to part ways, he became the CEO and chairman of Descon, a position he held until 2018.

[5] Dawood was a visiting faculty member in 1975 till 1981 at the newly established MBA Programme at the University of Punjab.