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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Students Explore Contemporary and Historical German Culture

by Sarah Buckley

For two weeks in June, Central Michigan University Honors students explored contemporary and historical German culture with faculty member Daniela Richter as they visited Jena, Hamburg and Berlin.

This faculty-led study abroad program offered students a variety of engaging experiences ranging from going on a hike lead by Jena student Philipp Leinenbach to meeting with U.S. Consul Ken Toko and learning about the political and economic importance of international connections and understanding.

Excursions to the Hamburg Port and the Porsche plant in Leipzig helped highlight the economic ties between the U.S. and Germany. The students also visited Johann Sebastian Bach’s birthplace and attended a concert at the prestigious Hamburg Elbphilharmonie to learn more about the cultural ties between Germany and the world.

Throughout the trip, the students also became skilled users of public transportation and enthusiastic samplers of Germany’s culinary culture.

Teaching major Cara Neidenbach says the trip showed her how a global citizen might see the world.

“There were plenty of surprises that forced vulnerability, cultural knowledge, and adaptability,” said Neidenbach. “Global citizenship does not make sense until you visit another country or actively participate in communities outside of your own culture.”

Music major Mario Sangret-Savalle agrees that the trip offered an increased understanding of global citizenship and cultural diversity.

“An understanding like this has multiple connections to my life, my career, and my place and purpose within the greater context of the world,” said Sangret-Savalle.

Despite the Honors designator, this course is open to all CMU students. Anyone interested in participating in the 2024 study abroad course (scheduled for May 24 – June 10), should contact Professor Richter at richt2dm@cmich.edu to make an appointment to learn more.