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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.

      Symposium message: Health of Great Lakes takes teamwork

      by Sanjna Jassi
      U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga tells the Great Lakes Science in Action Symposium at CMU of a push for a $175 million increase in funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.

      The future of the Great Lakes depends on teamwork.

      Lawmakers and residents collectively need to educate others of the lakes’ importance to Michigan and the larger region, said U.S. Rep. Bill Huizenga, keynote speaker Friday at Central Michigan University’s sixth annual Great Lakes Science in Action Symposium.

      That education concerns ecology and economy, he said, noting that the lakes alone sustain 800,000 jobs and close to $50 billion in economic activity from fishing, shipping and recreation.

      A Republican, Huizenga said he and Democratic lawmakers — in particular U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur of Ohio — put politics aside on the lakes.

      Those efforts have not only kept $300 million in the budget for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, but there are plans in the House and Senate to increase it to $475M for future fiscal years.

      “At the end of the day, we need to be in this together, and I think we are,” he said.

      Daniel Echinger, director of the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, also spoke at the symposium, emphasizing restoration, recovery and creating more opportunities for people to connect with nature.

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