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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Computer Science majors win awards

by Sanjay Gupta

CMU computer science majors win a variety of awards at a Midwest collegiate computing conference

A group of CMU computer science majors recently brought home awards from the Midwest Collegiate Computing Conference, held this year at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The conference’s goal is to provide college students a competitive environment in which to improve their skills while networking with local businesses.

The theme was “Connecting to the Future,” where speakers emphasized the direction of technology development in the marketplace. The competitions covered a range of knowledge and skills, including enterprise infrastructure, application development and systems/databases.

The winners are:

Paul Cappaert, a computer science and mathematics senior from Dekalb, Illinois, won first place in Java development along with Rohith Kamisetty, a computer science senior from Anantapur, India.
Kenneth Hall, a computer science junior from Bangor, Maine, won first place in IBM’s Master the Mainframe and second place in Java development.
Javarri Little, a computer science junior from Detroit won first place in system analysis along with Zach Hayward from Kingsley, Michigan. They both also won second place in cybersecurity.
Nathan Rossow, a computer science senior from St. Johns, Michigan, won second place in Java development and second place in IBM’s Master the Mainframe.

Students competed in a wide range of knowledge and skills including database design, Java development, network design, Microsoft Office solutions, visual studio development, Python programming, cybersecurity, project management, and Master the Mainframe.