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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Griffin Forum Panelists to Discuss Michigan's LGBTQ+ Policies

by Sarah Buckley

The School of Politics, Society, Justice and Public Service welcomes Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel and a panel of experts for the Fall 2023 Griffin Forum 6 p.m. Mon., Oct. 2 in the Powers Hall Ballroom. Panelists will discuss Michigan's LGBTQ+ policies, including Michigan's history and important highlights, the Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, and the path forward.

The panel of experts include Jack Day, an Assistant Professor in Human Development and Family Studies at Central Michigan University, Frank Foster, a lobbyist and professional advocate at Public Affairs Associates, and State Senator Jeremy Moss.

The forum is open to the public with general admission seating. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Guests are welcome to submit questions in advance for the panelists.

Andrea LaFontaine, Central Michigan University's Robert and Marjorie Griffin Endowed Chair in American Government, organizes two policy forums each year that address social, political-economic, environmental, and other current and important issues. LaFontaine began her term as Griffin Chair in 2021.

Established through private donations, the endowment leads the university's efforts to elevate political awareness and activity among students, faculty and citizens. The endowment honors two of CMU's esteemed graduates — former U.S. Congressman, U.S. Senator and Michigan Supreme Court Justice Robert P. Griffin (1923-2015) and Marjorie Anderson Griffin (1922-2017).

This forum is sponsored by the School of Politics, Society, Justice and Public Service, the Women and Gender Studies Program, the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, and the Office of LGBTQ Services and Gender Equity Programs.