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

New CMU health and safety plans announced for fall

by Sanjna Jassi

Central Michigan University announced updated COVID-19 guidelines for its main campus in Mount Pleasant ahead of the start of the Fall 2021 semester.

Central Michigan University today announced updated COVID-19 guidelines for its main campus in Mount Pleasant ahead of the start of the Fall 2021 semester. By Friday, Sept. 3, all students, faculty, and staff must either provide proof of full COVID-19 vaccination or have begun participation in weekly COVID-19 testing.

Through the "Protect yourself. Protect others." program, students, faculty, and staff who choose to be vaccinated can complete a voluntary attestation form and upload their vaccination card, which allows them to opt-out of weekly COVID-19 tests.

Individuals who choose not to be vaccinated, or who choose not to complete the voluntary attestation form, will be required to complete weekly COVID-19 tests. Required testing is free of charge and will be available on campus beginning Aug. 30. Individuals must have their first COVID-19 test result or vaccination card information uploaded by Sept. 3.

These added protocols come as COVID-19 cases continue to rise throughout Michigan and the U.S., including the more contagious delta variant. President Bob Davies is committed to providing a safe and inclusive return to campus for all individuals this fall.

In a letter to the CMU community this morning, Davies explained the new protocols and decision-making process.

"Vaccination or testing, combined with the use of masks indoors for all individuals, will help us prevent the spread of COVID-19 within our campus and community," Davies said. "This plan is designed to allow everyone to make their own decision while practicing social responsibility — a core value at CMU."

This fall, masks also are required in many areas on campus. These areas include all classrooms, labs and other instructional spaces, in communal areas, health clinic areas, and indoors in any single room or enclosed space with more than 25 individuals in attendance.

To schedule an appointment for a COVID-19 vaccine, CMU students and employees can visit the CMU Health page, call 989-774-6599 or visit the Vaccine Finder. CMU also will host vaccine pop-up clinics on campus during move-in and during orientation week and throughout the semester.