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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.

      CMU earns first place in national sustainability competition

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      2022 Race to Zero Waste award badge

      Central Michigan University received high honors in the 2022 Campus Race to Zero Waste thanks to the ongoing efforts by students and staff. CMU won first place for large-sized campuses in the Food Organics category of the competition, which is sponsored by the National Wildlife Federation.

      This was CMU’s fourteenth year participating in the competition, which challenges colleges and universities to reduce waste production. Two hundred colleges and universities from 44 U.S. states and Canada participated, engaging more than 3.6 million students, faculty and staff in the program.

      Led by students from Central Sustainability, the university community diverted food and other reusable materials out of landfills through composting, recycling and donating. 

      CMU recycled 18,297 pounds of cans and bottles, 118,740 pounds of paper, donated 521 pounds of food organics to people and composted 135,880 pounds. Participants in the competition kept 27.9 million pounds of waste and 200 million single-use plastics out of landfills. Additionally, participants prevented the release of 30,288 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which is equal to avoiding the annual emissions from 6,376 cars.

      Early this year, CMU received two honors from The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency through the Sustainable Materials Management Program: the 2020 College and Universities Partner of the Year Award and the 2021 WasteWise National Narrative Sustainability Public Education Award.

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