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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.

      The week in photos: Aug. 19-25

      by User Not Found

      Some of the top photos from Central Michigan University events and activities during the week of Aug. 19-25 as captured by University Communications.

      An overhead shot of a football field with people standing in the shape of a C with the word Chippewas visible in both end zones.
      A timeless tradition at Central Michigan University is “packing the Big C” at Leadership Safari - incoming freshmen and transfer students filed into the classic Block C on Kramer/Deromedi Field, with the help of the 102nd Chippewa Marching Band.
      Young people in maroon T-shirts run through a tunnel of other young people beneath flags in a hallway with windows for walls.
      Leadership Safari closed with the tunnel run in McGuirk Arena – incoming students cheered and high-fived their Safari Guides as they ran to their last keynote address of the week.
      A man in gray pants and a polo shirt holding a microphone stands in the middle of a basketball arena filled with people.
      Director of the Sarah R. Opperman Leadership Institute, Dan Gaken, gives a fired-up speech to Safari students in McGuirk Arena. Gaken’s address reflected on many of his own college experiences and stressed the importance of student leadership amid changing social challenges.
      A young woman navigates through a string maze in a wooden frame held by seven other people.
      Leadership Safari Guides held several team-building games and exercises for incoming freshman at Kelly/Shorts Stadium.

      Events

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      View our programming newsletter

      Entrepreneurship News

      Questions?

      Contact the team