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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!
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.
Signature Programs
Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship
Explore special opportunities to learn new skills and travel the world.
Compete & Win
New Venture Challenge 2025
Present your venture and win BIG at the New Venture Challenge.
Build your skills
Workshops and events
Boost your entrepreneurial skills through our workshops, mentor meetups and pitch competitions.
Develop your ideas
IDEA Den
Learn about the entrepreneurship makerspace on campus in Grawn Hall.
Ready, Set, Pitch!
Make-A-Pitch 2024
Present a 2-minute pitch at the Make-A-Pitch Competition and you could win prizes and bragging rights!
Meet Mentors
Mentorship and support
Connect with mentors and faculty who are here to support the next generation of CMU entrepreneurs.
Support students
Make an impact
Are you a CMU alum looking to support CMU student entrepreneurs? Learn how you can support or donate to the Entrepreneurship Institute.
View our programming newsletter
Alumni give back to students through mentorship, real-world experiences
by
Kurt Baringer
The Wakeling Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars Program, founded by Central Michigan University alumni Stephen Wakeling, ’03 and Erin Gendron, ’06, started the way many entrepreneurial ventures do — by using interests and talents to fulfill opportunities.
Having been involved in the New Venture Challenge in years’ past, the two weren’t strangers to coaching students and recent graduates. Then, 2020 hit.
“From the number of phone calls I received from students and recent alumni asking me about how to deal with the changing world, it became clear that these young people need more of this interpersonal help,” Wakeling said. “We realized they need a different kind of mentor.”
Through their passion for coaching and mentoring combined with their vast business experience, Wakeling and Gendron saw an opportunity to give back in a unique way. They started the Wakeling Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars Program at the start of the 2023-2024 academic year.
“We thought a lot about what sorts of things we could provide that would have the biggest impact,” Gendron said. “A few key things we wanted to include were coaching sessions, networking and relationship building.”
A successful first year
The program started with a trip to Wakeling and Gendron’s home base: Atlanta.
“I didn’t have crazy expectations going into it, but our first trip to Atlanta blew my hair back,” said Fenton sophomore Mela Hammond. “Stephen and Erin were very much interested in what we all wanted to get out of the program and they tailored the trip around that.”
Additional trips to Detroit, Austin for the South by Southwest Conference and Traverse City followed. Stephen and Erin introduced the students to other entrepreneurs, connected with them as a group and one-on-one for guidance and mentorship, and exposed them to different networking opportunities. Regular cohort meetings ensued, where students planned their own events to share their learnings with their peers.
One such event was a “fail panel,” where Wakeling and other entrepreneurs spoke at CMU about embracing failure as an entrepreneur.
“Stephen and Erin are just so student-centric. They’re so open to sharing the lessons they’ve learned in life and business,” said Julie Messing, director of CMU’s Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship and an entrepreneurship faculty member. “Their level of involvement has been incredibly impactful for the students.”
Farmington Hills senior Deja Granger has received more than just valuable skills to take with her when she graduates. She’s also gained a community and self-confidence as a young professional.
“Stephen and Erin have given me the confidence to see that I belong in any room I walk into,” Granger said. “I love that I know I can reach out to them — or anyone else in the cohort — for help. I’ve built really meaningful relationships that I know I can lean on.”
As for year two, the program’s founders hope for much of the same: mentoring students in the ways that are most impactful to them.
“As an entrepreneur, I’ve spent a lot of time gathering groups of people together and chasing down a vision that not so long ago felt like an impossibility,” Wakeling said. “We have a really great group that isn’t just part of the scholars program — they’re now part of the team. I’m excited to see what we can continue to build together.”
