Start up
Build up your venture idea.
Learn more
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.
Astronomy club gets front-row seat for total eclipse
by
User Not Found
Last month’s total solar eclipse provided a rare chance to witness an astronomical event. It also gave members of a registered student organization at Central Michigan University an experience that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Thirty-seven members of the Central Michigan Astronomy Club traveled to Ohio to watch the eclipse in Toledo. It was in the path of totality.
“Seeing the total solar eclipse was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and I will never forget the sheer beauty of the event,” said Keegan Binder, the club’s president. “It was genuinely one of the most beautiful things I have ever witnessed, and being there with my friends and classmates, who have a shared interest in astronomy, was a time I will look back at after graduation with nothing but happiness in my heart.
Binder and Jordan Nether were among the club’s founders in 2022. They were already members of the Society of Physics Students that spring semester, but decided they wanted something a bit more.
They wanted a club that would help them pursue their passion in the night sky. That fall, they officially founded the club.
Nether said he discovered that he possessed that passion at age 10. He’d like to carry it over into a career in teaching.
The thing about astronomy is that it either terrifies you or fills you with an insatiable curiosity about everything about it, he said. There’s a tremendous amount to learn about how those celestial bodies behave.
They were aware of April’s eclipse when they formed the club, but they only started planning it in the fall semester. Detailed plans only came together in the last couple of months, Binder said.
The club holds regular meetings, but the real fun comes when they go to the Brooks Astronomical Observatory. They bring their personal telescopes and occasionally look through the university’s.
The light in Mount Pleasant limits what they can see due to light pollution obscuring the night sky.
“You don’t realize how few stars you see,” Binder said.
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
The Wakeling Gendron Entrepreneurial Scholars program wrapped its first cohort this academic year.
Students compete to win cash prizes at the New Venture Challenge
Pitched 40 ventures at NMV Challenge, Friday, April 19, CMU. Judges awarded $100,000 in cash prizes.
Wakeling Gendron Scholars make a life-changing trip to Texas
Wakeling and Gendron Scholars attended SXSW in Texas, meeting industry leaders and gaining entrepreneurial insights.
Business barriers lead CMU students to a new venture
Justin Ashman and Philip Mundt won Central Michigan University's New Venture Competition with their 3-D printing operation, Form Further.
