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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

Learn more

Alum dedicates career to creating opportunities for others

by Sanjay Gupta

Tiffany Jones is a leader in creating positive change in higher education. Since graduating from Central Michigan University with a degree in family studies, she's been an advocate for college affordability and increased minority student support.

Tiffany Jones, a 2007 graduate of Central Michigan University, is a leader in creating positive change in higher education.

Since graduating from CMU with a degree in family studies she's been an advocate for college affordability and providing more support for Black, Latinx, Indigenous and first-generation students. Now, as the deputy director of data, measurement, learning and evaluation at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, she is leading a team responsible for researching and evaluating the foundation's investments in postsecondary education in the U.S.

Similar to CMU, the foundation's goal is to "ensure that all students who seek the opportunity are able to complete a high-quality, affordable post-secondary education that leads to a sustaining career." In line with that goal, Jones believes students deserve the opportunity to focus on their studies while in college instead of having to worry about how they will pay for it, afford their next meal or purchase books for classes.

Tiffany Jones

"It's important that when students show up to campuses that colleges and universities are ready to serve them with high-quality experiences," Jones said. "I want to make sure my work contributes to campuses being better prepared to provide healthier environments for diverse groups, such as first-generation, low-income and students of color to truly thrive."

"I hope to make decisions that result in campuses being able to do more for Black, Latinx, and Indigenous students and students from low-income families," she said.

Despite having an op-ed published in The New York Times and working on legislation to remove the Pell Grant ban for students who are incarcerated, Jones said she is most proud of her work to improve the pathways for those who come after her.

"I've had a chance to mentor, hire and support opportunities for a lot of other diverse individuals and see them go on to do change work at organizations," Jones said. "Now when I listen in on expert panels in Washington D.C., it's a much more diverse group of voices."

Jones credits those who had a commitment to help her, such as her research mentor from the McNair Scholars Program at CMU, for where she is today.

"Other people were committed to my success and it made all the difference in the world," she said. "In the not-too-distant future, I hope someone can say that about me and my work."

This story was written by University Communications intern, Eva Steepe.