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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.

      Passion for oboe reed making

      by Sanjna Jassi
      CMU School of Music faculty member Lindabeth Binkley shares her passion for reed making through a special Instagram account.

      Central Michigan University School of Music faculty member Lindabeth Binkley started making reeds for her oboe when she was 14. By the time she was principal oboist of the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in Arizona, she would make reeds daily.

      Though her work at CMU keeps her busy, Binkley recently created an Instagram page, @thinthetip, to help keep herself on track with her passion. Posting #OboeReedADay, Binkley is able to hold herself accountable, showcase her work and reflect about how she makes her reeds.

      “It has definitely helped me see my reed making differently,” Binkley said. “I am making the best reeds I have made in years!”

      Oboe is a double reed instrument, meaning it uses two pieces of cane to produce sound. Creating oboe reeds is a process that involves cutting and shaping the cane, soaking and drying the reed, and more.

      Oboists tend to make their own reeds because doing so allows the musician to customize their sound and control every nuance in their playing, making no two sound exactly the same.

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