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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Real estate entrepreneur Jason St. John returns to campus

by Kaye Reimers

Students gathered around a classroom in Grawn Hall to listen to CMU alum, Jason St. John discuss his experiences on Thursday, Sep. 21, 2023. St. John shared the challenge of starting his real estate career during the 2008 recession and the creation of his successful Chicago brokerage firm, Greenstone Partners.

Senior Brendan Barker, majoring in entrepreneurship, thought what St. John said could benefit his future.

“After hearing Jason and listening to what he has to say, you can take a lot of different things rather than just real estate, and more of life experiences with what he looks for in an employer, and how it can benefit and change your ways through school,” Barker said. “I like how he explained the good and the bad of every business and being an employer or an entrepreneur.”

St. John said it feels special to be back at CMU. During his visit he made several connections between the uncertain future of the market when he was a college grad to the challenges students face today.

“I think that our business school has a lot to offer and it’s important to come back and spend time with students,” St. John said. “I was fortunate enough to have some really good mentors and people that I spoke and looked up to.”

St. John said he hopes students take away that school is real and important.

“When you step out of school, you’re stepping into the ring,” he said. “Like my mentor told me, you don’t know what it feels like to get your nose broken, until you step into the ring. Getting out in the real world and meeting as many people as possible that are in the business world is important to try and prepare yourself for when you go out and take it to the next level.”