Mississippi completes statewide rollout as Indiana moves toward deployment, signaling a shift toward modern infrastructure, freeing advisors for entrepreneurs.

PALM HARBOR, FL, UNITED STATES, September 1, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — Economic Impact Catalyst (EIC) today announced major deployments of Catalyzer, its operating system for small business programs, across two state Small Business Development Center networks. Mississippi SBDC has completed its statewide rollout, while, following a three-month pilot, Indiana SBDC is moving forward with a statewide rollout of Catalyzer by year-end, with regional trainings beginning next week.

Together, the deployments point to a larger shift in how SBDCs manage advising, client engagement, program delivery, and impact reporting: away from fragmented legacy systems and toward connected infrastructure designed around the work of helping entrepreneurs.

An infrastructure problem, not a people problem

Entrepreneurship support organizations do not primarily have a people problem. They have an infrastructure problem.

Advisors spend too many hours documenting counseling sessions, chasing forms, preparing reports, and moving information between systems that were never designed to work together. Those are hours that could instead be spent helping business owners start companies, access capital, create jobs, and make better decisions.

Funders and public agencies also increasingly expect small business programs to show not only how many entrepreneurs they serve, but what happened as a result: businesses started, capital accessed, jobs created, revenue grown, and communities strengthened.

Catalyzer was built around a different premise: advisors should spend their time advising, while technology handles as much of the administrative burden around that work as possible.

The platform brings intake, client management, advising, program delivery, referrals, workflows, capital connections, and impact reporting into one operating environment. AI can be embedded throughout the workflow to assist with documentation and reduce repetitive work. The goal is not technology for its own sake. It is to give time back to advisors while giving leaders better data and a clearer view of impact.

Mississippi SBDC completes statewide rollout

Mississippi SBDC has completed its statewide deployment of Catalyzer across its network. EIC Founder and CEO David Ponraj joined the Mississippi team in August for statewide training and launch activities.

“Our work has always been personal. A counselor sitting across from a business owner, asking the right questions and helping them see the path forward, is what changes outcomes. Technology will never replace that,” said Sharon Nichols, State Director, Mississippi SBDC. “What it does is make our coaches better at it, giving our counselors a complete view of each entrepreneur’s journey so guidance is informed and follow-through is built in. It returns time to the client, proves the return on every dollar invested, and connects entrepreneurs to the capital and partners they need to grow.”

The deployment gives counselors a unified environment for managing entrepreneurs and businesses while giving leadership real-time visibility across the statewide network.

Indiana SBDC moves forward with statewide rollout

Following a three-month pilot, Indiana SBDC is moving forward with a statewide rollout of Catalyzer by year-end, with regional trainings beginning next week.

“Our first responsibility is to help Indiana’s entrepreneurs and small businesses start, grow, and succeed. That requires continuous improvement in how we utilize technology and data to adapt to the needs of entrepreneurs and our economy. Catalyzer will give our counselors stronger capabilities to understand each business, coordinate support, and connect entrepreneurs to the right resources at the right time,” said Summer Webb, Director of Operations and Associate State Director, Indiana SBDC. “We are excited to launch a more connected statewide system that allows us increase efficiently, measure the return on our investments, and strengthen the entire ecosystem working together to drive small-business growth and economic impact across Indiana.”

The Indiana rollout reflects a deliberate approach to modernization: prove the platform with advisors, learn from real use, and then expand statewide.

What Catalyzer changes

Four capabilities are at the center of the Mississippi and Indiana deployments:

– AI-assisted documentation and workflow automation that reduce the administrative burden carried by advisors.
– Integrated intake, advising, program management, referrals, and reporting in a single platform rather than disconnected systems.
– Real-time network-level visibility that gives state directors and program leaders a clearer picture of activity, outcomes, and performance.
– A more connected entrepreneur experience spanning technical assistance, ecosystem resources, and access to capital.

The objective is to improve how small business programs operate so information follows the entrepreneur, advisors have the context they need, leaders can see what is happening across their networks, and funders can better understand the outcomes their investments are producing.

A broader shift across the small business support ecosystem

While the announcement centers on SBDCs, Catalyzer is also used by Women’s Business Centers, APEX Accelerators, Veterans Business Outreach Centers, CDFIs, economic development organizations, incubators, and other organizations delivering small business programs.

The programs differ, but the underlying challenge is often the same: talented people doing mission-critical work on infrastructure that has not kept pace.

“The people who work inside SBDCs didn’t choose this profession because they wanted to spend their evenings documenting sessions or building reports. They chose it because they wanted to help entrepreneurs,” said David Ponraj, Founder and CEO of Economic Impact Catalyst.” We built Catalyzer around a simple idea. Technology should give those hours back. AI, done right, isn’t about replacing advisors. It’s about removing the administrative work around them so they can spend more time with the business owners who need them. Mississippi going statewide and Indiana beginning its deployment are important signals that the field is ready for a new generation of infrastructure.”

EIC is expanding Catalyzer across SBDCs and other entrepreneurship support networks as part of a broader vision: common operating infrastructure connecting small business intake, technical assistance, ecosystem navigation, capital access, program delivery, and impact measurement.

About Economic Impact Catalyst

Economic Impact Catalyst (EIC) builds technology infrastructure for organizations that support entrepreneurs and small businesses. Its platforms—Catalyzer, Startup Space, and LenderImpact—serve organizations across more than 35 states. Founded in 2018 and headquartered in the Tampa Bay area, EIC is bootstrapped and profitable. Its technology has supported more than 100,000 small business owners and helped facilitate more than $200 million in capital to underrepresented entrepreneurs.

Learn more at economicimpactcatalyst.com.

David Ponraj
Economic Impact Catalyst
+1 813-508-2707
davidponraj@eicatalyst.com

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