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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.

      Hearing the world through books

      by Sanjna Jassi
      Clarke Historical Library hosted a reading of international children’s books written in 20 different languages.

      Literature can create bridges between languages and unite different groups of people through storytelling. The Clarke Historical Library provided a platform for these connections with its annual International Children’s Book event.

      This year’s program featured 35 Central Michigan University students, faculty and staff reading aloud stories in 20 different languages. Readers provided a summary of the story and cultural context of the book in English before reading the story in its native language.

      Many of the readers are native speakers or are studying the original language of the story they read. The event allows students and faculty to share a part of their culture with the CMU community.

      The event is put on by the Clarke Historical Library in partnership with the CMU Department of World Languages and Cultures the CMU Office of International Affairs and the English Language Institute. It has been held for the past five years and highlights the collection of international children’s books available at Clarke Historical Library. The collection contains about 2,000 books from 70 countries in nearly 50 languages, thanks in part to a recent donation by retired CMU faculty member Susan Stan.

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      Questions?

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