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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Alum honored for work in family studies

by Sanjna Jassi

CMU alum Anna L. Olsavsky is the 2020 recipient of the National Council on Family Relations’ NCFR Student Award.

Central Michigan University alum Anna L. Olsavsky is the 2020 recipient of the National Council on Family Relations' NCFR Student Award.

The award recognizes excellence as a student and great potential for contributing to family science.

Olsavsky graduated from CMU in 2015 with a double major in family studies and psychology. She received the 2015 Honors Program Academic Excellence Award and served as president of the university's NCFR student affiliate.

Her research work began during her first year in Human Development and Family Studies, collaborating with faculty members Pam Sarigiani and Phame Camarena. Their study focused on body image development in college students and was presented at the NCFR conference and the Society for Research in Child Development.

"CMU is the foundation of my budding academic career," Olsavsky said. "I owe a lot to Drs. Sarigiani and Camarena, Jeff Angera, and Chris Latty for their academic guidance and support. They provided me with opportunities to learn about and participate in the research process, and helped spark my interest in making it my career.

"On top of their mentorship, they were also all phenomenal teachers, which meant that I came into graduate school very well prepared. I am incredibly grateful for the education I received from CMU, the CMU Honors Program, and the HDFS department."

Sarigiani was excited to hear of Olsavsky's award.

"I met Anna during her first year of college," she said. "I saw early on how research sparked Anna's interest, and It has been very rewarding for me to see Anna grow as a researcher and scholar across these years."

Olsavsky is a postdoctoral scientist in the Center for Biobehavioral Health in the Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. She earned her doctorate in human development and family science this year from Ohio State University with NCFR student honors.

"NCFR is an organization that I highly regard, and one that was truly formative in my decision to pursue an academic career," Olsavsky said. "It was only the second academic conference I ever attended, and I did so as an undergraduate presenting research with CMU faculty. Recognition from NCFR is very personally and professionally meaningful."

Olsavsky's award was presented Friday, Nov. 13, during the 2020 NCFR Annual Conference.