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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University Communications earns international acclaim

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A humorous, relatable host delivering simple, but standout messages helped Central Michigan University’s “We Do” marketing campaigns win four international marketing awards, and an honorable mention in a fifth.

CMU’s brand campaign won one platinum and two gold awards in three competitions held by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals. The organic social media component of the application fee waiver campaign won one platinum award and an honorable mention.

The competitions recognized excellence in marketing and communication and by creative professionals responsible for planning, concept, direction, design and production of digital communications. They also recognized outstanding achievement in video and digital production.

Two people in professional clothes shake hands at a conference table. A person stands in the background cheering in excitement while confetti falls. — CMU's "We Do" brand campaign garnered three awards from the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals.

“CMU sets itself apart by using humor to impart focused messages that speak directly to our audiences interests,” said Abby Dean, CMU’s executive director of integrated marketing. “We Do” is built in a highly visual way for digital impact.

The outcomes for the university from the campaigns are even more important, she said.

For the last three years, the brand campaign has earned the distinction as the most recalled/most remembered university advertising campaign in Michigan, according to the annual Student Insights survey. CMU saw a 574 percent increase in video view completions and a 115 percent increase in traffic to the website.

Through the social media campaign, the university’s Instagram profile views increased by 40 percent, with conversions increasing by 925 percent. CMU’s TikTok presence also saw tremendous growth with a 94 percent increase in reach, a 99 percent increase in per video reach and a 385 percent increase in shares. Most importantly, at the time of submission for the awards, CMU saw a 25 percent increase in applications.

A unique aspect of the campaign is that all the work was done by University Communications staff, Dean said.

“I’m so proud of this team,” she said. “From research and conceptualization to filming and production and everything in between, all this work is done by our team, not an agency.

“This not only saves the university hundreds of thousands of dollars, which we reinvest into our advertising spend, but speaks to the level of professionals on this team.”

The five awards were:

Platinum for the 2024 AVA Digital Awards: Integrated marketing campaign category
Platinum for the 2024 AVA Digital Awards: Social Campaign category
Gold for the 2023 MarCom Awards: Advertising campaign category
Gold for the 2023 Viddy Awards: Integrated Marketing Campaign category
Honorable mention for the 2023 Viddy Awards: Social Media Campaign category

CMU was one of only nine universities in the world to be recognized in the AVA digital awards, and one of only two platinum awardees in Michigan. CMU was also the only university to receive gold recognition for the Viddy and MarCom awards in Michigan.