Jane and Francois Marx have given everything they have to their new social enterprise cafe, Long Street Coffee.

They have spent $30,000 of their own money and have had just three days off in seven months.

They are skint. Two weeks ago they quit their jobs at other cafes but they didn't care, because on Saturday, their dream to open a cafe to train and employ refugees came true.

Over the next week, a Gambian man, a Malaysian woman and an Iranian woman will start shifts at the cafe, learning hospitality from the ground up. All are referred by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and Brotherhood of St Laurence. They had to be aged under 30 and have conversational English. No previous experience was necessary.

In the past six months, Francois worked 75 hours a week and Jane 40 hours a week to set up Long Street Coffee, which is in Little Hoddle Street, a rather hip laneway near North Richmond station.

The couple's cause was boosted by an Australian Women's Weekly grant of $10,000; a crowdfunding campaign in which 216 people donated nearly $18,000; and in-kind support, including a stonemason giving $8000 of stone for the counters.

The cafe name comes from Mr Marx's native South Africa – in Cape Town there is a multicultural Long Street that was a centre for the anti-apartheid movement.

Mr Marx fitted out the cafe's kitchen and made its benches and counters. The couple painted the former garage and print studio's exposed bricks and ceiling beams.

Gas to cook full breakfasts and lunches hadn't been connected despite seven months of pleading with the energy company, so on Saturday, which was World Refugee Day, they served pastries and toasted sandwiches – plus plenty of coffee.

But Mrs Marx thinks it's trivial to moan. "We realise as hard as this may have been, the risk and burden of doing this independently on very little, it's still nothing compared to the barriers that refugees face when trying to create a life for themselves here."

While both were studying politics at university they volunteered. Mr Marx taught coffee making at the not-for-profit Social Studio cafe in Collingwood and Mrs Marx taught English to refugee women in the Hoddle Street flats.

Refugees told of submitting their CVs to cafes and the owners would barely glance at them, not willing to give them a go, sometimes from lack of experience. She hopes Long Street will lead to them "securing meaningful employment that will enable them to do whatever they dream of doing in Australia".

But cafe-goers can also benefit.

"People can come here, have something to eat, have a coffee, and chat to someone from a refugee background and it's our hope that having done that, they would be less likely to believe what they read about boat people and asylum seekers and refugees coming here."

At a time when the Australian government is turning back asylum seeker boats, a place where negativity and hostility around refugees can be broken down is needed more than ever, she said.

"A lot of people find they're some of the most resilient, hard-working people on earth. They come here to contribute to our society and they have probably more motivation than the average person to make something of themselves."

Open Tue-Sun 8am-4pm. Long Street Coffee, 45 Little Hoddle Street, Richmond, longstreetcoffee.com