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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CMU ranked for first time in QS World University Rankings

by Kara Owens

Stage with CMU seal for commencement For the first time, CMU has been ranked by the Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) World University Rankings. This achievement is a major step forward for the prominence of CMU on the international stage. David Weindorf, CMU’s Vice President for Research and Innovation, said “the ranking will bring us more national/international visibility, feed into recruiting the best students and faculty, and distinguish us as truly one of the best universities in the world.”

Some of the factors included in the ranking include academic peer review, faculty/student ratio, citations per faculty, employer reputation, international student ratio, and international staff ratio. The QS World University Rankings are considered one of three major international university ranking systems, inclusive of the Times Higher Education and Academic Ranking of World Universities systems.

Coming off a record setting year in grantsmanship, CMU also boasts the strongest percentage change in scholarly output (+26.2%) over the past five years of any school in the Mid-American Conference. Weindorf said, “the momentum of CMU’s creative scholarship/research enterprise is palpable and a direct reflection of the hard work and dedication of its exceptional faculty, staff, and students.”