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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CMU Health expands footprint

by Sanjna Jassi

CMU Health expands into Saginaw Township by taking over the practice of a retiring physician.

Central Michigan University Health has expanded its footprint into Saginaw Township for the first time by bringing the family practice of Dr. Lawrence LaLonde into its team of health care providers.

LaLonde is retiring after practicing family medicine at 5421 N. Colony Drive for 29 years. During that time, he also taught CMU College of Medicine residents. He will continue to see patients part-time over the next year to help ensure a smooth transition to what is now called CMU Health Primary Care.

Dr. Wynee Lou, an internal medicine physician, and Janet Ader, a CMU Health nurse practitioner, will lead the practice, which will be open five days a week and is accepting new patients. The number is 989-790-3141.

"Partnering with the Lawrence LaLonde Family Practice was an excellent opportunity to carry on the success of a historic local practice while expanding our footprint into Saginaw Township," said Dr. Samuel Shaheen, executive director of CMU Health.

LaLonde said: "I placed a high priority on finding the right partner to continue to care for my patients beyond my retirement. I have complete trust in the team at CMU Health to maintain the practice's high standards of care for years to come."

CMU Health is the clinical arm of the College of Medicine and provides care for patients at its nine locations across the Great Lakes Bay Region from board-certified physicians and medical residents of the College of Medicine program. Its physicians provide primary care in family medicine, internal medicine and pediatrics; and specialty care services of surgery, obstetrics and gynecology, infectious disease, endocrinology, and psychiatry.