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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P-Subs members collaborate with CMU Institute for Great Lakes Research on Beaver Island

by Robert Wang

For the second consecutive year, engineers and submarine captains Alec Smyth from Virginia and Cliff Redus from Texas have brought their self-designed and constructed submersibles to Beaver Island. They teamed up with scientists from the Central Michigan University Institute for Great Lakes Research to conduct research in northern Lake Michigan.

Smyth, the founder of Innerspace Science, and Redus, are both active members of P-Subs, an international group of submersible owners. Alongside other P-Subs experts, they traveled to CMU Biological Station to perform scientific studies with IGLR researchers.

The goals of their expedition included:

Measuring 13 water quality parameters at depths comparable to those measured by IGLR scientists from the surface using the Emerald Isle ferry, which services Beaver Island from Charlevoix.
Obtaining a general description of the substrate and potential spawning habitats for cisco and lake whitefish along a six-mile transect from the transect line north to Garden and Hog Islands.

Don Uzarski inside a small submersible vehicle deploying a robotic arm. Dr. Don Uzarski, director of the CMU Institute for Great Lakes Research, joined the group during his vacation time to support the project. (View the full video here.)

This collaboration highlights the dedication and passion of private submersible owners in contributing to scientific research and underscores the potential of private-public partnerships in advancing our understanding of aquatic ecosystems.