Redrawing the map of opportunity

Small and medium-sized businesses wanted to grow but often didn't have the capacity or resources to bring on the additional support they needed locally.

On one side was talented people looking for access to opportunity. On the other was businesses looking for the capacity to grow.

Pjay saw the possibility of connecting the two.

“The opportunity wasn't to take advantage of a wage gap,” he says. “It was to close an access gap.”

Taking the leap

DCV began before there was a finished business plan.

At 29, Pjay had a secure career, a newborn at home and every practical reason to wait.

But he had made a promise to himself.

“I had made a promise that I would start a business before I turned 30,” he says. “I only had a few months left, so I resigned and kept my word.”

He didn't have guaranteed income or a clearly defined service. Instead, he turned to the relationships he had built over years, asking businesses what challenges they were facing and how he could help solve them.

DCV's first contracts grew from those conversations.

Today, the company directly employs professionals in Nepal and the Philippines, helping businesses access skilled support while giving its team opportunities to work with clients and organisations across borders.

India is next as DCV continues its regional expansion. But for Pjay, growth is about more than expanding into new markets. It is about how many people can grow with the business.

When growth creates opportunity

Pjay has built DCV around the belief that commercial success and social impact don't have to sit on opposite sides of the equation.

When a business grows, it often needs more people to support that growth. Through DCV, businesses can access skilled professionals, while those professionals gain better-paid work, international experience and the flexibility to build their careers from home.

For Pjay, the value is in what that connection can create for both sides.

“I see business as a way to help people at scale, without relying on donations or constantly having to find new funding,” he says.

“The more the business grows, the more opportunity it can create.”

He has seen that happen firsthand.

One small business owner was struggling to manage everything alone. Bringing on local staff wasn't financially viable, but without additional support, continuing to grow was becoming increasingly difficult.

Through DCV, the business was able to bring a skilled professional into the team, giving the owner the capacity to focus on growing the business.

At the same time, the new team member gained a better-paid role, the flexibility to work remotely and the opportunity to develop their skills through international work.

For Pjay, that's the kind of connection DCV was created to make.

A business gets the support it needs to grow. A talented professional gets access to opportunities that may otherwise have been out of reach.

And as the business grows, it has the potential to create even more opportunities.

The model isn't based on people in emerging economies being worth less. It is based on recognising that talent is globally valuable, even when access to opportunity is not.

Some of DCV's young professionals now earn more than four times the average salary in Nepal – without having to leave the country to do it.

The power of someone believing in you

Pjay's belief in potential is also personal.

He says he was never an A student and, at times, doubted what he could achieve. What changed his path was the people who saw something in him before he saw it in himself.

“People believed in me, invested in me and mentored me,” he says. “They gave me the opportunity to excel.”

That experience stayed with him at ACU, where Pjay studied commerce.

While building his career, he found support from lecturers and the careers team who helped him turn uncertainty into direction.

“They believed in me before I believed in myself,” he says.

It also shaped the way he thinks about leadership. While studying at ACU, Pjay founded the Nepali Youth Leadership Forum to help young Nepali Australians build confidence, networks and career pathways.

Since then, he has brought together business, government and community leaders across Australia and Nepal, mentored young people and entrepreneurs, and worked to create stronger connections between countries and communities.

For Pjay, being given an opportunity comes with a responsibility to create opportunities for others.

Looking ahead

By 2030, Pjay hopes DCV will directly employ at least 500 people across emerging economies. Not beneficiaries – he is quick to point out – but colleagues. People building meaningful careers through work that businesses genuinely value.

His vision is for more talented people to access international opportunities without feeling that success requires leaving home. It is also for more businesses to have the capacity to grow without burning out or going it alone.

For Pjay, that is what global connection really means. It is not simply about moving people, capital or businesses across borders. It is about creating connections that give people more choices.

“Success is not only how far a business goes,” he says. “It's how many people can go further because it exists.”

And that is the map of opportunity Pjay is working to redraw – one where talent can rise from wherever it begins.

Pjay is the winner of the ACU Global Connection Award in ACU’s Alumni Awards 2026.