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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Meet Megan Hart

by Bree Ring

Out of the 45 scholarships available to support students in the School of Communication, Journalism, and Media, three of them were named in honor of this year’s Media Hall of Fame inductees or their family members. CMU junior Megan Hart is the recipient of a four-year award from the Fausto and Gladys Fernandez Memorial Scholarship established by their son Eduardo “Ed” Fernandez in memory of his parents.

Hart, a native of Rockford, Michigan, fell in love with video storytelling while in high school and is now enrolled in the Broadcast and Cinematic Arts program.

“I was looking for a program where I could continue my high school production work, and wanted to hit the ground running,” said Hart. “CMU’s program offered that.”

Preference for this scholarship award is given for a student working toward the advancement of minorities in broadcasting. As an Asian-American growing up in a white community in west Michigan, Hart is planning to use her personal experiences and education to uplift voices in the media.

“My mom is Chinese from Vietnam, and my dad is white, so I’m mixed race,” she said. “This scholarship is helping me to achieve my personal goal of telling minority stories as a person of color.”

Hart plans to produce and direct news stories and is setting her sights high.

“CNN would be one of my top picks,” she said.

For more information about the Fausto and Gladys Fernandez Memorial Scholarship and other opportunities, visit School of Communication, Journalism, and Media Scholarships | Central Michigan University (cmich.edu).