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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!

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.

      Chairman of U.S. SEC visits CMU

      by Sanjna Jassi
      U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton addressed business students at Central Michigan University.

      Students from the Central Michigan University College of Business Administration had the opportunity to meet with and hear from the chairman of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Jay Clayton, Friday, Sept. 13, in the Sarah and Daniel Opperman Auditorium in Park Library.

      Clayton gave an overview of the work of the SEC before sharing his thoughts on capital markets, creating economic environments to support entrepreneurship and the value of teamwork.

      “Often the winning team is not just the one with the most individual talent, but the one that coordinates the talent they have most effectively,” Clayton said.

      Following the presentation, CMU alums Robert Stebbins, the U.S. SEC general counsel, and Jon Voigtman, managing director at Royal Bank of Canada, joined the chairman for a panel discussion facilitated by finance and law faculty member Max Dolinsky. The panelists answered students’ questions on emerging issues and trends such as market prices, insider trading, private and public sector careers, and much more.

      Clayton repeatedly emphasized the importance of teamwork, telling students, “Teamwork produces incalculable value. Better teams beat better individual talent all of the time.”

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      Questions?

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