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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.

      Elijah Joki, a sophomore from L’Anse, MI, majoring in information technology, has been awarded a prestigious Boren Scholarship to study language and culture at the Japan Center for Michigan Universities in Hikone City, Shiga Prefecture, Japan.  

      Photo of Boren Scholar Elijah JokiGrowing up in a small village of less than 1,900 people at the southern base of the Keweenaw Peninsula in Michigan’s upper peninsula provided Joki access to some of the state’s most beautiful waterfalls, forests and wildlife. However, it was a bit more challenging to find high school opportunities for language learning.

      “I saw a list of languages on a government website and Japanese was listed as one of the most difficult to learn. So, because I enjoy a challenge, Japanese is the language I chose to learn,” Joki said. 

      “L’Anse High School offered only a couple of in-person language classes, so I had to take Japanese through the high school’s online programs,” he said. “Independent study was a bit of a struggle at first, but I developed a schedule that I stuck to, and I asked for help when I needed it.”

      Joki’s determination was a theme throughout his educational experiences. 

      “The small-town experience provided opportunities like career and technical education classes to explore different career choices, but they required an extra hour on a bus each day,” Joki said. “I took cybersecurity classes five days a week in my senior year. These classes reaffirmed my passion for learning about computers and technology.”

      A visit to a friend who was attending CMU led to a love for CMU’s campus, and receiving an academic merit scholarship sealed his decision to come to CMU. He continued to study Japanese with Maiko Bronson, a faculty member in the Department of World Languages and Cultures, and he began looking for opportunities to have an immersive experience.

      “I have never been outside of the country. Professor Bronson brought culture into our Japanese classes, and now I am excited to go to Japan and actually experience the language and culture firsthand,” he said.

      Boren Scholarships, an initiative of the National Security Education Program, support students who wish to work in the federal national security arena. The awards provide funding for U.S. students to study less commonly taught languages in world regions critical to U.S. interests.

      Joki worked with Maureen Harke, director of the CMU National Scholarship Program throughout the application process and with Marko Schubert, assistant director of Study Abroad, to build a study abroad program. 

      Joki plans to pursue a career in information technology and work in U.S. federal government. He is grateful for the support he has received throughout his education. 

      “I could not be where I am today without the support of my friends and family,” he said. “They have encouraged me through tough times, and to go above and beyond what I thought I was capable of achieving.”

      Source: Maureen Harke

      Media Contact: Aaron Mills

      Questions?