SA government backs small businesses

South Australian small businesses will be able to achieve "marvels" with the state government in their corner, SA's small business minister says.

Martin Hamilton-Smith has delivered the first report on the state of the small business sector, which includes 140,000 businesses employing one-third of the state's workforce.

He says the businesses have told the government they face many challenges, including the cost of power in SA, industrial relations issues and pessimism in the media.

But he says the pessimism is not warranted and the government has worked with small business to create a 10-point plan that will help it tackle the challenges they face.

Mr Hamilton-Smith says his small business agency will keep gauging the sector's worries and do a better job of letting businesses know what assistance it can offer.

"We can't just launch a project or a program and wait for people to come and pick the fruit from our tree. We've got to keep the reminders going," he said.

"My agency will visit every small business association to hear their concerns and we will deliver a response to each and every one of them."

He said the government and businesses could work together to achieve results "beyond our present imagings".

"Let's not forget that the web was originally a government-developed message-sending technology," he said.

"When government and the private sector are doing the best they can do, leveraging off each other, there is no telling what marvels can emerge."