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A student standing and speaking in front of a large crowd in French Auditorium.

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.

      Some of the top photos from Central Michigan University events and activities during the week of Feb. 19-25 as captured by University Communications.

      Two women wearing winter coats stand in a brightly lit room with white walls and light brown wood floors. On the walls are large photographs by artist Khary Mason.
      Guests view the works of Khary Mason’s photography exhibit “Friendly Fire: Scenes of Service (Searching for Safety)” in the Baber Room Gallery at Park Library. Mason is an artist and retired Detroit police force homicide investigator. The exhibit explores the artist’s own participation in a justice system at odds with his intentions and everything he was trained to believe.
      A female graduate student wearing glasses and a maroon long sleeve shirt sits at a computer with multiple screens.
      CMU graduate student Brooke Ray conducts research on the gait changes of Parkinson’s patients when using mobility aids in CMU’s Motion Analysis Lab in the College of Health Professions.
      In a carpeted hallway inside Mt. Pleasant High School, a CMU student and a high school student sit on the floor talking.
      A CMU student educator checks in with her student in a one-on-one meeting at Mt. Pleasant High School.
      A male CMU student with long hair and wearing a green plaid shirt sits at a desk inside a classroom next to a female high school student in a pink Nike sweatshirt.
      A CMU student educator shares a laugh with his student while discussing the themes of George Orwell’s 1984 in a Mt. Pleasant High School classroom.
      Provost Nancy Mathews sits in a chair holding a microphone, talking to alumna Angle Bush. Behind them is a maroon sign reading
      At a Black History event in the Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow College of Health Professions, Provost Nancy Mathews moderates a discussion with CMU alumna Angle Bush about the contributions of Black women in artificial intelligence.

      Source: Aaron Mills

      Media Contact: Aaron Mills

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