Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

We are a dedicated institute for student entrepreneurs across campus and beyond. We aim to maximize your success by fostering your entrepreneurial mindset, promote inter-disciplinary collaboration and provide support for the creation and development of your new ventures. Jumpstart your ideas and get involved today!

Tune in for excitement!

Passion. Potential. Pitches. Don't miss any of the 2025 New Venture Challenge excitement.

Tune in Friday, April 11 at 1 p.m. for great ideas and fierce competition. Then, join the judges, mentors, spectators and teams as they see who is going home with thousands of dollars in venture financing. The awards broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. and one team will walk away as the overall best venture.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

Start your entrepreneurial journey

Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration is the home of the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship and the first Department of Entrepreneurship in the state of Michigan. We are a student-centric hub where experiential, curricular, and external entrepreneurial opportunities intersect.

Our mission is to maximize student success by fostering a campus-wide entrepreneurial mindset that promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration and the creation of new ventures.

We aim to create innovative programming, boost cross-campus and ecosystem collaboration and provide a comprehensive mentoring program.

Our institute provides extracurricular opportunities and is open to all undergraduate and graduate CMU students.

Student opportunities

Meet experienced alumni, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and other business and political leaders.
Learn practical skills, innovative thinking, and connect with mentors and entrepreneurial resources.
Attend skill-building workshops and compete in pitch competitions and Hackathons.
Take part in special scholarship programs and travel experiences.
Pitch your venture at our signature New Venture Challenge event and compete for up to $20,000 in cash awards.

Find your path

Are you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

Every journey is unique. Explore the opportunities that interest you.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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Alumni engagement around virtual cooking class

by Kathleen Hodgkins

On November 15, Central Michigan University’s Alumni Relations staff teamed up with host Brittany Milan and Chef David Miller, Executive Catering Chef in the Allen Foundation Culinary Nutrition Center, for a virtual cooking demonstration for CMU Alumni. The Center is home to the Nutrition and Dietetics program at CMU.

Alumni logged in via Zoom to observe how to prepare homemade pita and hummus, a simple and healthy dish. Throughout the demonstration, Chef Miller engaged the alumni on how to prepare this delicious holiday appetizer. Making pita from scratch may seem like a daunting task, but the food demonstration showed otherwise.

“We’re not just making food, we’re making dreams come true,” Chef Miller stated. The newly renovated and state-of-the-art culinary center is located in Wightman Hall and has 24 workstations with commercial-style ovens and modern food service equipment. Nutrition and Dietetics courses taught in the Allen Foundation Culinary Nutrition Center include NDS 160 Introduction to Food and Culinary Techniques, NDS 361 Food Science, as well as a new course offered every fall, NDS 291 Introduction to Wine.

To connect with nearly 240,000 alumni around the globe, please contact Alumni Relations at alumni@cmich.edu or by phone at (989) 774-3312 or toll-free at (800) 358-6903.

To learn more about the Nutrition and Dietetics program and course offerings, please contact program director, Dr. Najat Yehia at yahia1n@cmich.edu. For information about the Allen Foundation Culinary Nutrition Center, please contact the Director, Dr. Jeff Fisher at fishe2jj@cmich.edu.