Michael Dawson (businessman)

Michael Dawson is an entrepreneur and former politician from County Dublin in Ireland. He served briefly as a senator in 1989, when he was nominated by the Taoiseach to the 18th Seanad to fill a vacancy after the 1989 general election.

He is the founder and CEO of the Gift Voucher Shop (GVS), the multi award-winning international company responsible for the pioneering of the Multi-Retailer Gift Card. The company is now the market leader in Ireland, UK and Malta where its One4all gift cards can be bought in over 18,000 locations including the Irish Post Office, UK post office networks and online, and can be spent in over 24,000 locations.

An entrepreneur his entire life, Dawson has made an impact and left his entrepreneurial mark across a diverse range of career paths, including youth work, politics, lottery, to the business he heads up today. He has moved his core technology focus from secure paper to electronic card products thus enabling the business to expand into the savings and loyalty businesses and is now leading the way in the adoption of mobile digital technology for gifting.

In 2009, The Gift Voucher Shop won an Ulster Bank Business Achievers Award under the category of Business Going International, and won the Marketing in Innovation category at the AIM Awards in both 2009 and 2010. One4all has won three awards at The World Prepaid Awards, including ‘Best Overall Gift Card Programme’.

Dawson was one of 2007's finalists in the Ernst &Young Entrepreneur of the Year programme and was named ‘Fingal Business Person of the Year’ at the Business Excellence Awards 2010. He lives in Malahide Co. Dublin and is married with three sons.