Innovate Mississippi was thrilled to participate in the first ConnectMS (ConnectMS.org) convening at Community Bank headquarters in Flowood, where representatives from the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA), the Mississippi Small Business Development Center Network (SBDC) and Innovate Mississippi launched their ambitious collaborative program. Through the ConnectMS.org website, startups and small businesses can connect to a robust set of resources that these and other partner organizations throughout Mississippi now offer to entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses in the state.
“We’re really excited to have the ConnectMS program,” said Innovate Mississippi CEO Tony Jeff. “I don’t think companies always know when they come in whether [they will] end up being a debt or equity-finance deal. They just know what they want to do. So if we can give them a single door, I think that’s something.”
The partnership has created ConnectMS to help any small business discover essential resources it can use to get started. Programs such as the ConnectMS Navigator help new business owners determine which path to take to get their company started and funded. Workshops and the FoundersPlus program can help new entrepreneurs understand and access the resources available to them. At the same time, ConnectMS also surfaces events, seminars, pitch competitions, and startup weekends that Mississippi business founders can attend.
Many of these companies eventually aim to get into programs like the Virtual Small Business Incubator (for service and non-tech businesses) or the CoBuilders Accelerator (for high-tech and high-growth startups). From there, the ConnectMS partnership can help companies access funding through traditional lending sources, government grants and programs, or seed and venture capital.
“We saw an opportunity,” said Sharon Nichols, state director of the SBDC, “[New businesses] aren’t ready for capital, whether it’s on the debt or equity side. We recognize that. And so we wrote for the grant, it’s going through MDA, and we’re helping to do this work.”
ConnectMS is one of only 14 collaborations that received federal funding from the US Department of the Treasury thanks to the SSBCI 2.0 program. Lawmakers relaunched the SSBCI program in 2021 via the American Rescue Plan Act to increase small businesses’ access to capital.
“We’re building an ecosystem that’s one of a kind in the United States because we’re connecting federal, state and local resources,” Nichols said. “We are joining forces to address longstanding barriers that have held back many small businesses and entrepreneurs from realizing their full potential.”
