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.

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.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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Students, faculty win Kennedy honors

by Sanjna Jassi

CMU theater students and faculty earned honors at the 2020 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Wisconsin in January.

Central Michigan University theater students and faculty earned honors at the 2020 Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Madison, Wisconsin, in January.

Eighteen CMU theatre and dance students participated in workshops; attended productions; and competed against students from Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Competitions covered acting, design-related fields, stage management, "tech Olympics" and auditions for staged readings learned during the week. Here are CMU's student finalists and winners:

Anna Rudnitsky was a finalist in the Aspire Leadership Intensive competition.
Evan Stehlik was a finalist in Regional Makeup Design Projects, received honorable mention for his makeup design, and he and his team won first place in the Design Storm.
Hanna Shoemaker was a scenic design finalist in the National Realized Design competition for her scene design of "Miss Julie." Shoemaker also was presented with the Award for Excellence in Technology and Design and the Don Child's Award for Cross-Discipline Collaboration.
Lindsey Marie Chidester was a finalist in the Stage Management Fellowship competition.
Rebecca Rose Mims and her competition partner, Avery Kiefer, were among 16 finalists for the Irene Ryan Acting Scholarship out of more than 250 competitors. Mims also won the Vocal Excellence Award and was cast for a staged reading.

Faculty member Ann Dasen's costume designs from the CMU University Theatre production of "A Fox on the Fairway" were selected to be a part of the celebration of associate productions and costume parade. Dasen also was selected as a respondent for the Regional Design Project.

CMU's contingent also earned 10 certificates of merit for roles in CMU productions, including "Ragtime," "The Whipping Man" and "A Fox on the Fairway."