CLEARWATER, Fla. — A recent report from the e-commerce company Shopify says Florida is one of the top states to see the largest economic impact from entrepreneurs.
That study says Florida entrepreneurs rank 8th in the country for how big of a contribution they are to their state’s economy.
According to local entrepreneur David Ponraj, he isn’t surprised.
“I think Florida gets it; I think Florida gets what entrepreneurship is about,” he said.
Ponraj is the CEO of Economic Impact Catalyst, a business he works on growing daily.
“I tell my team that for my calendar every single day, no matter what’s on my calendar that’s probably not what my day looks like,” Ponraj said.
According to Ponraj, interacting with clients and partners is common and plentiful in a state like Florida.
His business focuses on helping small businesses find resources to get them started while also creating one-stop-shop systems for state and local governments to use to help those businesses too.
“We’re going to start a business that makes it easy for businesses across the country to start,” Ponraj said.
In the five years since he first started Economic Impact Catalyst, he’s helped clients in nearly 30 states and, this year, opened their headquarters off U.S. 19 in Clearwater.
When he heard Shopify ranked Florida 8th in the country for how much entrepreneurs positively impact the state’s economy, it made sense.
“The fact that we’re investing in small businesses is the right strategy and that’s why I think it’s a place where entrepreneurs can come and flourish,” Ponraj said.
That investment has created so many resources for businesses like his to thrive.
Which is why he was excited to plant his company’s roots in the bay area, he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
“We’ll always have it centrally located in Florida and we’ll continue to grow and expand,” he said.
Because, to him, there’s no better place to do it.