Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

Stephen Wakeling was looking for a new way to give back to Central Michigan University students in 2020.

Wakeling, a 2003 Broadcasting and Cinematic Arts graduate, found success as an entrepreneur and was helping students participating in the New Venture Challenge. But he was also fielding phone calls from new graduates with other questions.

“I realized I was getting more calls about life stuff than about start-up stuff,” he said.

At the same time, the College of Business Administration was looking for some way to help aspiring entrepreneurs build critical entrepreneurship skills you can’t learn in the classroom, said Julie Messing, director of the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship.

Life stuff, in other words.

The two “found” each other and with the start of the fall semester, the Stephen Wakeling and Erin Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars began their second year. The Gendron in the program name is Erin Gendron, Wakeling’s wife and a 2006 graduate of the creative writing program.

Entrepreneurial Scholars an intensive one-year program that involves traveling to meet business leaders, bi-weekly meetings and the opportunity to experience things that will help them develop critical personal skills, Messing said. It also provides students with a stipend.

The program is also about demystifying how you build a network, Wakeling said.

Build a business network by making friends

“Your network is just your friends,” he said. The idea of networking is intimidating, the reality is that it’s just meeting new people and making new friends.

During the inaugural 2023-24 year, Wakeling accompanied students to the South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas. They had a dream list of people to meet that included Mark Cuban and Guy Kawasaki.

They met both, Wakeling said. The hardest part was approaching them for a brief conversation. The scholars were surprised.

“They couldn’t believe it was that easy,” he said.

Students also got a chance to eat in a steakhouse and eat sushi at a hibachi restaurant. On the surface, they’re nice meals. As an entrepreneur, it’s important to have the necessary skills to order food and eat in both kinds of restaurants.

Students are pushed outside their comfort zones, Messing said. That’s where real growth takes place.

“It’s about getting comfortable with the uncomfortable,” she said.

Scholars aren’t necessarily business students. They just need a passion for what entrepreneurship can do to help them realize their dreams, she said.

This year’s group includes two students in the College of Science and Engineering and one from the College of Education and Human Services.

They all share one thing. They believe that entrepreneurship can help them achieve something important. If not in their careers, at least in something they’re passionate about, she said.

Through the Entrepreneurial Scholars program, Wakeling and Gendron are helping them realize those dreams.