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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

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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Boundless learning opportunities

by Sanjay Gupta

Here’s a roundup of highlights from the past year focused on international education for CMU students and faculty.

From creating opportunities for Central Michigan University students to go abroad, to ensuring a positive and fulfilling experience for international students attending CMU to adding international elements to courses and programs, the Office of Global Engagement is dedicated to making international topics a part of everyday conversation.

Here are some of the ways CMU celebrated international education in the past year, as we celebrate International Education Week.

World travel opens doors of opportunity

Students and faculty use the summer months to explore countries around the globe, building their cultural competency, learning new languages, meeting people from a variety of life experiences and adapting to new cultures.

Exploring inclusion in Serbia

Thirteen students in recreation, parks and leisure services administration were CMU's first to attend a three-week, faculty-led study abroad trip to Serbia, Croatia and Romania in early June to learn about programs for individuals with disabilities.

Building a bridge between cultures

Hosted by the International Student Organization, the annual International Culture Expo event in April featured cultural performances, a showcase of traditional fashion, display tables, and an international buffet serving Indian and Mediterranean food. "We want to share our cultures, not just with students but everyone at the university and in Mount Pleasant," said Kimberly Benites Meneses, vice president of ISO and a general management student from Peru.

Hearing the world through books

Literature can create bridges between languages and unite different groups of people through storytelling. The Clarke Historical Library's annual International Children's Book event in March featured 35 CMU students, faculty and staff reading stories aloud in 20 different languages. Readers summarized the story and cultural context in English before reading the story in its original language.

Movement beyond borders

What do you get when you combine gymnastics, jazz, ballet, karate, kendo and judo? It may sound like a riddle, but it looks like power and grace in motion. It's Masashi Action Machine, a Japanese dance company that hosted a weeklong workshop in February for CMU dance students.

A cultural journey in Africa

For students studying abroad, life in a foreign country may include many elements of uncertainty: new foods, unfamiliar languages and totally different ways of living. Laura Cochrane, an anthropology program faculty member at Central Michigan University, believes discomfort can shape students in powerful ways.

Melding artifacts and technology

The historic gravestones at an early medieval church outnumber the permanent residents of the Spanish village 13 to 1. Often, the only visitors are those passing through during the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage. But for five weeks each summer, this tiny town in northern Spain becomes a research haven for Central Michigan University art history faculty member Scott de Brestian and a cohort of students.