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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October awards and highlights

by Sanjna Jassi

Here’s a roundup of accolades for CMU faculty and students reported in the month of October.

Here's a roundup of accolades and honors related to the Central Michigan University community from the past month.

College of Medicine student joins national journal's advisory board

The American Academy of Family Physicians Board of Directors appointed Christal Clemens, a fourth-year student at the Central Michigan University College of Medicine, as the student member to the Editorial Advisory Board of the journal Annals of Family Medicine. She is the first CMU College of Medicine student to receive this honor and will serve a one-year term.

Annals of Family Medicine is AAFP's peer-reviewed clinical research journal dedicated to advancing knowledge essential to understanding and improving health and primary care, areas at the core of Clemens' future.

CMU spouses head to Taiwan as Fulbright scholars

Spouses and CMU faculty members Jennifer Liu Demas and Lane Demas have been awarded prestigious Fulbright U.S. Scholar Awards to research and teach in Taiwan. Lane will teach U.S. and African American history at Taipei's National Chengchi University, one of the country's top schools for humanities. Jennifer will conduct research at Taiwan's National Central Library.

MAC honors faculty member for student success

The Mid-American Conference has honored CMU faculty member Holly Hoffman as one of its first ever Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success recipients.

Hoffman, a faculty member in Human Development and Family Studies, received the award for her work to support and develop students inside and outside of the classroom.