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.

Learn more

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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T.R. Johnson Speaker Series features Lonnie Bedwell

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This year, the College of Education and Human Services’ annual T.R. Johnson Speaker Series will feature Lonnie Bedwell , award-winning author, adventure athlete, and motivational speaker. Lonnie holds the first blind kayak descents on the Grand Canyon, Zambezi, and Gauley Rivers. He has also climbed Mt. Denali. “Lonnie is a friend and I have had him speak in several classes when I was at Indiana University,” says Shay Dawson, Department of Recreation, Parks and Leisure Services Administration faculty member. “He is a very dynamic speaker and we are inviting students from special education, veteran students, recreational therapy, outdoor and environmental recreation, as well as disability studies and community inclusion to attend.”

Lonnie, a former Navy Petty Officer, was critically injured in 1997 in a hunting accident that instantly took his sight. Against all odds, he raised three daughters as a single father, teaching them all to hunt, fish and drive. After the girls went to college, Lonnie continued to challenge himself and became a renowned extreme sports athlete. Lonnie was National Geographic 2015 Adventurer of the Year. He has also climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, summited several of North America’s highest mountains, and is an avid downhill skier.

Lonnie’s mission, as an advocate and active volunteer for people with disabilities and veterans, is to motivate and inspire everyone to embrace life with confidence and courage, no matter what challenges they may face.

This year’s event titled Where can your vison take you? will be held:

Tuesday, September 27, 2022

7:00 - 8:00 p.m.

Central Michigan University

College of Education and Human Services, French Auditorium, 195 Ojibway Ct.

It is free and open to the public. For students interested in learning more about the Rally Caps adapted sport RSO and the Recreational Therapy RSO, representatives will be in attendance outside of the French Auditorium.