Back to Main Menu

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.

      Management faculty receives International Impact Award

      by Henry Heller

      Mike Pisani, Ph.D, faculty member in the Department of Management, has been awarded the 2024 International Impact award for his lifetime connected to international activities. This award recognizes faculty who go above and beyond what is expected of faculty for engaging at the international level with teaching, scholarly activity, or service.  

      Pisani grew up in a rural community working for many years on harvests with migrant farmworkers from Mexico. As a young adult he studied in Mexico and volunteered in Central America. He teaches now because of the experiences he had growing up hoping to positively impact others. 

      Pisani assists in the community development in Nicaragua (1990’s -early 2000’s) Haiti (2010’s), and El Salvador (2010’s – present) through the creation of a cooperative bakery, carpentry shop, and a bicycle shop. Pisani acts as a Pro-bono consultant to assist minimum wage adjustment, micro-entrepreneurship, and microfinance assessment. He also does international teaching and extensive research studies focused on international topics and countries. 

      Most recently his studies focus on international consumer behavior of Paraguayans, business informality in the Americas, and the economic influence of China and the USA in the Americas. Pisani uses his research directly in the classroom through reading and discussion even involving cross-cultural teams from partners in Belize, Chile, Honduras, Mexico, and Paraguay. 

      Pisani’s work has assisted many local communities, and he plans to continue teaching, researching, and engaging in international service so he can share and impact others. 

      This story is brought to you by the Office of Research and Graduate Studies.

      Events

      VIEW ALL EVENTS
      VIEW ALL EVENTS

       

      View our programming newsletter

      Entrepreneurship News

      Questions?

      Contact the team