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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10 Questions with alum Jim Damman ’80

by Kurt Baringer

Get insights from Jim Damman, a logistics pioneer and CMU alum. From his first job to career advice, discover his journey.

1. When you first enrolled at CMU, did you know what you wanted to study?

I knew I wanted to study business, but I didn’t quite know what I wanted to do with my career. My family was always entrepreneurial – we had 15 hardware stores throughout metro Detroit, and I started working there at 14 – so I knew I liked entrepreneurship and business and wanted to do something in that realm.

2. What’s your favorite memory from your time at CMU?

The first is when I met my wife in the business program – she was in accounting. We’ve been married for 42 years.

James and Renaye Damman are standing in front of an idyllic, valley town in summer. — Jim and Renaye Damman

The second is the experience I had in the logistics program. Bob Cook was a new professor at the time who was really passionate about logistics, and there were about 10 of us in the inaugural logistics cohort. He did a great job coaching me and helping me get my first job out of college.

3. What was your first job after graduation?

I started with Missouri Pacific Railroad (now Union Pacific Railroad) in St. Louis. I spent about eight months in a management training program before receiving my first assignment as an assistant manager in Dallas, where I worked in the field with train crews, in operations and in administration.

4. What do you credit with your career success?

I have to thank my upbringing and the mentors I had along the way. My father, grandfather and various people in my professional life were really important in giving me the right nudge, in the right direction, at the right time.

5. You and your wife have been involved in the Logistics Undergraduate Case Competition since it started. Why do you feel investing in this competition is beneficial for students?

As a student, I always learned the most when I could get a real-life feel for the material. If it was just a textbook and theory, it was a lot less interesting to me.

The cases students work on in this competition are very real, and they have to work in teams and on a deadline to solve them – which is what it’s actually like. I think it’s a great experience for students.

6. What advice would you give to up-and-coming students?

On the day my dad dropped me off at my first job (at Damman Hardware), he told me, ‘Listen, learn, be humble and always do more than is expected of you.’ Those four principles have served me very well.

In today’s world, I’d also add another: Be adaptable. The ability to keep up with how the world is changing and what that means for your business and career is very important.

7. What do you love most about logistics?

I’ve always liked solving problems, and that’s what logistics is. When you come to work, you are solving problems that can otherwise turn the world upside down rather quickly.

8. What book recommendations do you have for young professionals?

“Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap … and Others Don’t” by Jim Collins, and “Execution: The Discipline of Getting Things Done” by Larry Bossidy.

9. What are your hobbies?

I enjoy playing golf, trading stocks and traveling. I also have three grandchildren who keep me busy.

10. What inspires you?

People. Something I love most about being a leader is watching people develop. Some of the best experiences I’ve had in my career were when I was handed a situation where the organization wasn’t in a good place and teams needed to be realigned. Finding ways to help people be more successful or find the right niche that lets them shine is very inspiring.