Support for potential entrepreneurs in Adelaide must be improved to stop young people moving interstate, the industry says.

“There are so many good young people with fresh ideas and a lot of entrepreneurism and passion behind their ideas, but I think the way things are, they find themselves hitting a wall in terms of bringing ideas to market in SA,” Entrepreneurs’ Organisation SA president Tim Seymour Smith told InDaily.

He said the State Government focus on small business had been “lost a little bit”, with budding entrepreneurs not knowing where to start.

“If we lose starting entrepreneurs interstate because those state’s programs have greater recognition, then we lose their whole idea from the state and someone else reaps the benefits.

“If they were fostered into support programs, then all of a sudden the creative benefit is not lost to SA.”

Why one young Adelaide lawyer left SA to work as an entrepreneur in New York.

One investor group, SA Angels, agreed there needed to be more centralised support for start-up businesses in Adelaide.

“There seems to be a number of things that are all quite fragmented,” spokesperson Mike Richards said.

“There are entrepreneur-type support programs, but some are quite short. They might only be a 12-week program and, to me, that is not a long-term support.

“They [entrepreneurs] need a lot more mentoring and access to networks and international markets and that kind of thing.”

Richards said SA was in danger of being left behind, with business incubators successfully established interstate, particularly in NSW.

He said a central service was needed in SA to guide entrepreneurs or would-be entrepreneurs, giving appropriate advice and mentoring.

Opposition Leader Steven Marshall plans to make supporting entrepreneurs a focus of his election campaign, but would not reveal specific policies or ideas.

However, he agreed there needed to be a central service.

“So many graduates are finishing and trying to find a job and can’t get one, and we are losing so many in SA, so it’s a fantastic growth opportunity to ask young graduates to consider starting their own business,” he said.

Marshall recently attended Start-Up Weekend, which aims to kick-start entrepreneurs.

“There was a huge energy in the room, but we don’t need to be doing it once a year; we need to set up programs to operate on a yearly basis.”

In this year’s BRW “Fast Starters” list, just two of the top 100 start-ups were based in SA: business services firm IPMO at number 50, and BRS, also a business consultancy, at 73.

The State Government provides some grants for small start-ups, including through Innovyz SA, which can grant a three-month fully funded program to connect start-ups with investors and mentors.

The Adelaide City Council is also attempting to make some progress. It has begun a program called “City of Entrepreneurs”, with key working groups looking to address issues facing people wanting to start a business in Adelaide.

However, Seymour Smith said while there were existing programs in SA, they were not well publicised.

“I do think there are some young leader programs in SA – there’s the SAYES program that Business SA do – but in my 45 years in business in Adelaide, I’ve only just come to know about them.

“If a larger voice was raised behind them, so more people knew about them, it would be fantastic.”

Richards, who has also worked in the government’s Innovate SA and previously for the SA Business Centre, said there had been “a lot of chops and changes” in support programs, with a long-term vision needed.

“Different governments want to do different initiatives so one thing gets scrapped to promote something else,” he said.

Support for start-ups is something that young entrepreneurs are trying to foster for themselves and their contemporaries in Adelaide.

As well as the controversial government-funded Hub Adelaide, independent co-working spaces such as Majoran Distillery, Soundpond, Format, Co-West, Fontanelle Gallery & Studios and The Mill have emerged to support a range of business and creative ventures.

Amber Cronin co-founded The Mill to offer a space for artists and start-up creative businesses.

“Adelaide is really recognised for exporting graduates rather than holding them, but I want to live here and I’m a young person and I want something fun to do.

“Most people in creative arts work from a café or their bedroom, so The Mill offers an opportunity to have a professional home or base, which I think is important as creative industries grow so they have somewhere they can meet clients or leave their bedroom and have more of a work/life balance.”

They’ve successfully run a Pozible campaign to raise more than $9000 to keep The Mill open.

“The community has been such a big part of developing The Mill and I think they get a bit of ownership [by contributing to the Pozible campaign].

“They are fundamental to the success and the future of The Mill, rather than if you go through a channel like grant funding, where you don’t get that same sense of ownership.

“Keeping the city interesting for graduates of the arts is so important for the city, and cultural diversity.”

Cronin believes the hub should not need government funding to remain open and it aims to be self-sustaining.

“We had council support to set up and to get the building habitable and since then it’s been self-sustainable and reliant on crowd funding.”