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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.

      Outstanding seating

      by Vivek Rawat
      Art Van furniture franchisee Taylor Lee has honored three CMU Fashion Merchandising and Design students as winners of a textile print competition.

      Art Van furniture franchisee Taylor Lee has honored three Central Michigan University fashion merchandising and design students as winners of a textile print competition.

      During the spring semester, CMU students in faculty member Su Kyoung An's Digital Technologies and Craftsmanship for Apparel Design course designed textile prints and digitally printed the designs on fabric to create slip covers for 10 Art Van chairs that Lee provided.

      The chairs were displayed in the Bovee University Center for a time before the March closure of campus to allow the CMU community to vote on favorites, and Lee also featured them and gathered votes on Art Van's Facebook page.

      Lee is donating the designers' chairs to be auctioned in community groups' fundraising efforts.

      Winners of the competition, all from Michigan, are:

      • Deana Lalonde, of Sault Ste. Marie, first place and $500. Lalonde, an accelerated senior/graduate student, plans to pursue a fashion industry career as an apparel designer.
      • Joshua Golden, of Lansing, second place and $300. Golden is a senior working this summer as a global apparel technical development intern with Nike.
      • Emily Doyle, of Saginaw, third place and $100. Doyle is a graduate student in apparel product development and merchandising technologies.

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      Questions?

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