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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Olympic gold medalist, rapper visiting CMU this week

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Olympic champion swimmer Cullen Jones and rapper and record producer Rakim will be in Mount Pleasant this week as part of Central Michigan University's homecoming festivities.

Jones is a two-time Olympian with two gold and two silver medals. He was a member of the 4x100-meter freestyle relay team that set a world record in capturing gold at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. Jones will hold a panel discussion at Plachta Auditorium at 6 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14. CMU alumni Talia Mark Brookshire, director of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Western Governors University, and former Detroit Free Press sports reporter Perry A. Farrell will facilitate the event.

Cullen Jones and Rakim — Cullen Jones (left) and Rakim (right) are coming to CMU as part of the Visiting Professors program.

Rakim, named one of the greatest MCs of all time by MTV and best known for being one half of the hip-hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, will perform at Plachta Auditorium on Saturday, Oct. 16 at 8:30 p.m.

Both events are free and open to the public with limited seating.

The visits are made possible by the Martin Luther King, Jr.-César Chávez-Rosa Parks Visiting Professors program, which aims to provide expertise and unique perspectives that otherwise would not be adequately represented by faculty. The CMU Office for Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and CMU Black Alumni Association spearheaded the events as part of the university's dedication to fostering better understanding across diverse groups.

Rakim's visit will be his second with CMU students, having previously held a virtual class in February through the KCP Visiting Professors program. Abolitionist Teaching Network educator and social justice advocate Dr. Bettina Love is scheduled to visit CMU as a KCP Visiting Professor in February 2022.