After their small pharmaceutical business began to take off, the pair wanted to give something back. ‘‘I think it has always been part of our ethos, the way we’ve been brought up that if you can, you should give to others,’’ says Zembrzuski. ‘‘You do what you can depending on your circumstances.’’

The pair are a self-made success story. Montagner was born to Italian immigrant parents and grew up in Coburg and West Preston. Zembrzuski’s parents fled Poland as displaced persons after World War II. ‘‘They were immigrants and they didn’t have much, but it was a stable family. It sounds corny, but I’ve always had a sense of how lucky I am.’’

The couple met in their first year of university and became friends. A year later, Montagner asked Zembrzuski out on a date. ‘‘I was a bit shocked,’’ she says, laughing.

She studied biomedical science while he studied psychology, but they shared a strong entrepreneurial streak. While still at university, the pair bought a block of land and immediately set it up as a investment. ‘‘There was none of this lovey-dovey ‘I trust you’ nonsense,’’ Zembrzuski says. ‘‘It was a business partnership.’’

During her honours year, Zembrzuski took night classes in stockmarket trading.

Disillusioned with clinical psychology, Montagner wound up working as a drug company sales representative alongside his soon-to-be wife. They rose quickly through the ranks, moving first to Sydney and then to the United States and Japan to work for multinational pharmaceutical companies.

Nine years after they met, they married. After their daughter Natalie, now nine, was born, they started thinking of coming home. ‘‘We realised our kids were having a slightly one-dimensional life because we didn’t have family or friends around us. We made a conscious decision we wanted our children to be Australian,’’ Montagner says.