Back to Main Menu

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. 

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.

      Apparel association honors student

      by Sanjay Gupta
      CMU student Megan Daniels won second place in an American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists competition.

      Central Michigan University senior Megan Daniels won second place in the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists’ 2019 Concept 2 Consumer Student Merchandising Competition.

      The online competition asked students to develop a business model, marketing strategy, merchandising tools and products for a fashionable and functional apparel line for rainy conditions, inspired by a specific outdoor activity.

      Daniels, a fashion merchandising and design major from Holland, Michigan, proposed a hiking and athletic line whose fabric changed color and pattern when exposed to water.

      “I titled the line Zaa, which is one of the words used to describe heavy rain in Japanese, and used the tagline ‘Change Like the Weather.’” Her garments also could be changed in length and style depending on the weather.

      As second place winner, Daniels received $750 and a one-year student membership from AATCC, and $350 from tech firm W.L. Gore and Associates.

      Daniels’ mentor was fashion merchandising and design faculty member Thamizhisai Periyaswamy.

      AATCC, a major international association in textiles and apparel, has thousands of individual and corporate members in more than 60 countries worldwide.

      Events

      VIEW ALL EVENTS
      VIEW ALL EVENTS

       

      View our programming newsletter

      Entrepreneurship News

      Questions?

      Contact the team