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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.
CMU website redesign project progressing
by
Sanjna Jassi
Central Michigan University’s website redesign, a key project geared toward advancing the university’s enrollment efforts, continues to progress.
Central Michigan University's website redesign, a key project geared toward advancing the university's enrollment efforts, continues to progress. Highlights of this project include:
- Incorporation of CMU's new brand — "We do." — into writing, stories, tone and voice. New visual components also will be added, including fonts, graphics and accent colors to complement the familiar maroon and gold palette.
- A media-rich homepage layout comprised of videos and pictures.
- Improved search features and a user-friendly program finder.
- Designs and layouts adapted for various screen sizes to ensure accessibility on all devices, including phones and tablets.
- Separate spaces for external and internal content to better tailor information to the user. Internal content will be the focus of phase two of the project.
The timeline for the project, which kicked off in May 2019, has shifted to ensure a full external website experience launches all at one time.
"We are shifting away from a previously planned phased approach, in which the initial launch would include a minimum viable product, or MVP, phase," Lisa Wendland, director of digital strategy and project lead, said. "We will now launch a full external site experience all at one time."
Wendland noted that moving to a full-site external launch approach provides many benefits, including:
- Better user experience, with a focus on future students.
- No redirects that would send our visitors back and forth between our new and old sites.
- Additional time for change management, training and integrations.
- Consistency of site content.
- Lower risk and cost overall.
A full updated timeline for the external site, including an estimated launch date, will be available in May.
Homepage Conceptualization: Desktop Version
Homepage Conceptualization: Mobile Version
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.
