Father and son in Titanic tourist submarine of Pakistan’s influential dynasty

The patriarch at the top of the chain, Shahzada’s father, Hussain Dawood, is one of the richest men in Pakistan, according to local media.

After Pakistan’s founding in 1947, the Dawoods provided funds to the government and were behind the first wave of industrialization, said Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, a business magnate and stockbroker in Karachi.

“They established important industrial projects and thus gave employment to thousands of people in the newborn country,” Dhedhi told AFP.

He described the family as “one of Pakistan’s leading philanthropic groups”, adding: “They don’t brag about any of that.”

The Dawood conglomerate includes Engro, of which Shahzada is a vice president. It has investments in energy, agriculture, petrochemical and telecommunication companies and recorded revenue of 350 billion rupees ($1.2 billion) in 2022.

Educated in the UK and the US, Shahzada lives in Britain with his wife Christine, son Suleman and daughter Alina.

A statement from the family described Shahzada as a “loving father” with a keen interest in “photography, especially wildlife photography and exploring different natural habitats.”

Suleman enjoys Rubik’s cube puzzles, volleyball and “is a big fan of science fiction literature and learning new things,” he added.

Shahzada’s interest in exploration extends to space and he is a member of the California-based Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI), which searches for evidence of extraterrestrial life, according to his website.

Shahzada and her family are perhaps most revered for their philanthropic work, particularly providing business and educational opportunities for low-income youth.

Since the 1960s, the Dawood Foundation has focused on establishing educational institutions throughout Pakistan, especially to meet the demand for engineers and tech experts.

Shahzada is also on the board of directors of the Prince’s Trust in Great Britain, a charity that helps young people find work, education and training.

In February 2020, he was a keynote speaker on a panel at the United Nations on equality in agriculture.

“Women are underrepresented in such an important fact, which is our food and livelihood. We must first look at the perspective of women,” she said.

Both Shahzada and her father Hussain were named in the 2016 publication of the so-called Panama Papers, a leak of more than 11.5 million financial and legal records exposing secret offshore accounts of the world’s rich and powerful.

Both were listed with accounts in the British Virgin Islands between 2005 and 2009.