There are many whole-forum migration scripts, but I’ve never heard mention of a tool just for setting up empty categories.
If the prospect of creating your categories via the interface feels like a lot of work, you miiiight have too many categories… 
After creating a couple you get the hang of it. I haven’t done it in a while, and I just added a new category with basic color, position, and permission settings with an updated welcome topic in about 90 seconds: (video)
(I’ll note that several of the categories in the menu seen there are limited to one group or another. As admin I see everything, but most members only see 6 or 7 categories in their list.)