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.

      Entrepreneurs Pitch Innovative Market Solutions

      by Jessica Meyers

      CMU’s Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship hosted the Make-A-Pitch Competition Monday, December 6. The competition allowed students with aspirations of starting their own business to practice their professional pitching skills and win funding for their ventures.

      Students from a variety of different backgrounds and majors competed at the event. Zach Bagbey a senior studying entrepreneurship took home the first-place prize of $1,100 for his pitch “Coyote Cookware.” Zach’s product was an innovative new cookware instrument called “Perfect Pour” that allows consumers to separate spice measurements from within the spice container.

      Zach thanked the staff at IDEA Den located in Grawn Hall stating, “They were super helpful in helping me prepare for this event. Having access to the space and the 3D printers in the IDEA Den has helped me so much as I develop a prototype of my product.”

      Sophomore, Destiny Taylor, a materials chemistry major, took second place at the event, in addition to winning the audience choice award for her pitch “Math and Mental.” Her proposed business aims to provide low-income students and urban school districts with science lab kits and handbooks.

      Many students who competed in the Make-A-Pitch Competition will also pitch their business ideas on April 21, 2023 in the New Venture Challenge hosted by the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship.

      Events

      VIEW ALL EVENTS
      VIEW ALL EVENTS

       

      View our programming newsletter

      Entrepreneurship News

      Questions?

      Contact the team