Dave, hails from Sentul, Kuala Lumpur and is a former student of the Methodist Boys' School. He started working part-time at the young age of 15 and eventually went on to complete a Diploma in Mass Communications at the age of 20. With that in hand, he entered advertising, an industry that he was in for almost 2 decades.

 

It was during this time that he started the New Thessalonian Apostolate (NTA), a Catholic Lay Organization, dedicated to Integral Human Development. This would eventually evolve to become NTA Social Enterprises.

 

In 1999, he headed to the UK where he worked as an Business Development and Advertising Consultant with the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy, while at the same time pursing a B.Sc in Chemistry with the Open University, UK. He returned to Malaysia in 2003, where he worked alongside the famous Yasmin Ahmad at Leo Burnett Malaysia before leaving to pursue his childhood dream of doing medicine. He started his MBBS degree at age of 30  at the Asian Institute of Medicine, Science and Technology.

 

However, instead of going into private practice he wanted to use his knowledge and experience, to help the poor, the marginalised and the voiceless. During this time, NTA was always held close to his heart. His vision was to make NTA an international non-profit organisation that would "inspire society to uphold and safeguard human dignity in any and every way possible", at the same time, without losing its spiritual identity and roots. Dave’s dream was to start a free private hospital, free private school, a free institute, and various projects that specifically catered for the forgotten of the society.  He believed this was  "His Calling, a vocation".

 

Staying true to this, and equipped with the support of his wife Marianne and some close friends who shared his vision, they dedicated the following years building NTA into what it is today.