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Build up your venture idea.
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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.
Event management program named world’s best
by
Sanjna Jassi
The International Festivals and Events Association has honored CMU’s undergraduate recreation and event management program as the world’s best.
Central Michigan University has the world’s best undergraduate recreation and event management program.
That’s according to the International Festivals and Events Association, which honored CMU with its Gold Pinnacle Award for Best Event Management Bachelor’s Degree.
The IFEA evaluated the REM program in the following areas:
- Number of staff and student-to-staff ratio.
- Number of students enrolled and graduated.
- Cost of tuition and financial assistance offered.
- Alumni success.
- Practical event experience required by the program.
Recreation faculty member Tim Otteman accepted the award on CMU’s behalf Sept. 26 at the 2019 IFEA/Haas & Wilkerson Pinnacle Awards in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia.
A career launch pad
Recreation and event management prepares graduates for careers organizing festivals, conferences, performances and other special events throughout the U.S. and abroad.
It’s the largest of three concentrations within the recreation, parks and leisure administration department with more than 200 students majoring and more than 100 minoring. RPL’s other two programs are outdoor and environmental recreation and therapeutic recreation.
Otteman toured the U.S. earlier this year to showcase on social media recreation alumni working coast to coast in positions ranging from coordinator of publicity and corporate communications for a music label in Nashville, Tennessee, to operations coordinator for an adventure tour business in Boulder, Colorado, to associate directing event services for the famous Rainbow Room at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in New York City.
“CMU recreation students take the real-life experiences we provide them through our curriculum and quickly become practicing professionals and leaders in our industry,” Otteman said.
Step up your game
Interested in a recreation-related career? CMU has one of the nation’s five largest recreation education programs.
Signature Programs
Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship
Explore special opportunities to learn new skills and travel the world.
Compete & Win
New Venture Challenge 2025
Present your venture and win BIG at the New Venture Challenge.
Build your skills
Workshops and events
Boost your entrepreneurial skills through our workshops, mentor meetups and pitch competitions.
Develop your ideas
IDEA Den
Learn about the entrepreneurship makerspace on campus in Grawn Hall.
Ready, Set, Pitch!
Make-A-Pitch 2024
Present a 2-minute pitch at the Make-A-Pitch Competition and you could win prizes and bragging rights!
Meet Mentors
Mentorship and support
Connect with mentors and faculty who are here to support the next generation of CMU entrepreneurs.
Support students
Make an impact
Are you a CMU alum looking to support CMU student entrepreneurs? Learn how you can support or donate to the Entrepreneurship Institute.
View our programming newsletter
Alumni give back to students through mentorship, real-world experiences
The Wakeling Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars program wrapped its first cohort this academic year.
Students compete to win cash prizes at the New Venture Challenge
Pitched 40 ventures at NMV Challenge, Friday, April 19, CMU. Judges awarded $100,000 in cash prizes.
Wakeling Gendron Scholars make a life-changing trip to Texas
Wakeling and Gendron Scholars attended SXSW in Texas, meeting industry leaders and gaining entrepreneurial insights.
Business barriers lead CMU students to a new venture
Justin Ashman and Philip Mundt won Central Michigan University's New Venture Competition with their 3-D printing operation, Form Further.
