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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

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.

Learn more

Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

Learn more

Isaiah Oliver appointed to Central Michigan University Board of Trustees

by Sanjna Jassi

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer today appointed Isaiah M. Oliver, president and chief executive officer of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint, to the Central Michigan University Board of Trustees.

Oliver CMU Headshot cropped "It is my honor to welcome CMU Chippewa Isaiah Oliver as a trustee," President Bob Davies said. "His remarkable commitment to leadership and community reflect the values and mission of Central Michigan University. His perspectives in supporting, mentoring and upholding youth and his insights as an alumnus will enrich our board."

Oliver is a graduate of Flint Northwestern High School and earned his Bachelor of Applied Arts from CMU in 2007. He was an art: design/graphic design major with a minor in art history. He has been keynote speaker at Central's annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brunch and a mentor for CMU's Pathways to Academic Student Success program, which helps low-income and first-generation college students.

He received Central's Alumni Service Recognition Award in 2018.

"It's an honor for me to serve as a Central Michigan University Trustee. I hope to continue the university's legacy of growth and excellence for current students and future generations," Oliver said. "In this economy, education is the most useful tool our state has for increasing statewide economic competitiveness and citizen level economic self-sufficiency."

He took the helm of the Community Foundation of Greater Flint in June 2017, becoming the organization's fifth chief executive and its first to be born and raised in Flint. Prior to that, he was vice president of community impact for the foundation. He also served five years on the Flint Community Schools Board of Education, including two as president. He served four years on the Hurley Medical Center Board of Managers and was associate administrator for workforce, community and grant development at Mott Community College.

"Mr. Oliver's background in education and mentoring, in community service through the nonprofit world, in grantmaking and fundraising will be invaluable to Central Michigan University," Board Chair Tricia Keith said. "I am thrilled to have him join the trustees and look forward to working beside him."

Oliver is a past president of the Flint Alumni Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity. He and his wife, Shay, live in Flint with their daughters, Zaiah Rene, Carrington Elyse and Chelyn Elizabeth.

CMU's eight trustees are appointed by Michigan's governor, as outlined in the state constitution.

Oliver replaces Joe Anderson, who stepped down from the board earlier this year. He will complete Anderson's term, which ends Dec. 31, 2024.