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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.

      Fulbright supports India experience

      by Sanjna Jassi
      A Central Michigan University senior from Michigan wins a Fulbright award to teach English in India.

      mug-meghan-dyerMeghan Dyer, a Central Michigan University senior from Lake Orion, Michigan, has been awarded a Fulbright U.S. Student Program grant to teach English in India.

      Dyer, an honors student majoring in secondary English education and minoring in history education, works in the CMU Writing Center.

      Each year, fewer than 2,000 U.S. students, artists and young professionals receive Fulbright grants to study, research and teach English abroad. Fulbright student programs are offered in more than 140 countries around the world. Students are selected based on their academic merit, leadership and cultural competency.

      "Cultural awareness and global citizenship are values that I hold very dear." — Meghan Dyer

      Dyer said teaching abroad will be a "salient" experience for her.

      "Cultural awareness and global citizenship are values that I hold very dear," she said. "I think that moving across the world to create these connections will allow me to further broaden my views and broaden the views of those I interact with — both while I am abroad and once I return home."

      Dyer will finish her student teaching at Clare Middle School before heading to India.

      Students interested in applying for funded international opportunities for graduate study, research, teaching English — and the Fulbright Grant — can go to the CMU National Scholarship Program.

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