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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.

      Partners in Reading and Learning

      by Sarah Buckley

      This fall, students from Central Michigan University’s English 211 course, Introduction to English Education, partnered with Mount Pleasant High School teacher Alexia Cain’s 9th grade English class to discuss the novel-in-verse Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.

      ENG 211 students collaborate with English classes at the high school in different ways each semester to give future teachers hands-on experience with secondary students.

      English Professor Carlin Borsheim-Black says it gives CMU students the opportunity to practice important skills for teaching English, such as building positive relationships with students, asking authentic questions about literature, and guiding small group discussions.

      The CMU students met virtually with Cain’s class seven times over five weeks to examine the meaning and stylistic choices of Long Way Down. The novel’s ending was a cliffhanger, so ENG 211 students practiced writing possible endings in Reynolds’ poetic style with their 9th grade groups.

      Cain’s class hosted a breakfast celebration at the high school with the CMU students to share their alternative endings with each other.

      “My students are sad to end our mentor unit, so I know they truly value this collaboration,” Cain said.

      Mount Pleasant High School and Central Michigan University students stand around a table filled with breakfast foods.
      Mount Pleasant high school and CMU students hosted a breakfast celebration to share their alternative endings to the novel Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds.

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      Questions?

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