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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Governor names CMU Detroit Outreach leader to state council

by Kevin Essebaggers

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has reappointed Rhonda Welsh, executive director for Detroit Outreach at Central Michigan University, to the Michigan Arts and Culture Council. Welsh will serve a term that runs through August of 2027. She was first appointed to the group in 2021.

"I am honored to serve in this role and deeply grateful for the opportunity to contribute to our state's cultural and civic landscape,” Welsh said. “This reappointment is a reflection of my lifelong passion for arts and culture, and I look forward to making a meaningful impact alongside my council members."

a woman smiling at the camera — Rhonda Welsh, CMU Detroit Outreach executive director

The Michigan Arts and Culture Council serves to encourage, develop, and facilitate an enriched environment of creative and cultural activity in Michigan. According to the governor’s office, the council “envisions a Michigan where every citizen celebrates the state's cultural treasures and arts, and cultural experiences are accessible to all its citizens.”

In her role at CMU’s Detroit office on Woodward Ave., Welsh serves as a liaison between the Mount Pleasant campus and the Detroit community. She leads community engagement through strategic internal programming, external sponsorships and events for the university’s stakeholders. CMU Detroit is a division of the president’s office.

Welsh, a recipient of the 2021 Michigan Chronicle Women of Excellence recognition, volunteers and has served on the boards of several organizations, including Read to a Child, the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, the Detroit Institute of Arts, Teen HYPE, the Rhonda Walker Foundation and Volunteers of America. She also is a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc.

"Serving my community and the state is not just a responsibility — it is a privilege,” Welsh said. “I believe in the power of collaboration, storytelling and advocacy to create lasting change. Through arts, education and community engagement, my personal mission is to uplift and empower those around me — an essential part of the work we do as the Michigan Arts and Culture Council.”