Powering your ideas.
The Gilliam Center for Entrepreneurship (GCFE) is where ideas take shape and momentum builds.
Located in the Major Innovation Hub within the College of Business, the GCFE supports all JMU students—regardless of major or class year—as they explore entrepreneurship and transform their vision for a business or nonprofit into a tangible plan.
Find expertise or pursue seed funding. Work with faculty, mentors, and like-minded peers to test your assumptions, research markets, and build professional networks. Any JMU student may take part in the GCFE, a community where learning thrives through engagement with mentor-entrepreneurs who are changing the world.
With Madison Inc. as the core of our entrepreneurship ecosystem, explore the programs and discover how you can change the world with your big ideas
Explore → Create → Launch → Grow
- Explore — events, speakers, ideation, innovation and exposure to entrepreneurship.
- Create — customer discovery, prototypes, hackathons, makerspaces and early venture development.
- Launch — accelerators, competitions, funding and mentorship.
- Grow — investment, leadership, scaling, alumni, ETA and VentureSouth.
“The GCFE devotes itself to the highest standards of learning, practicality and ethics while nurturing and accelerating the entrepreneurial spirit. Without the precise resources offered by their professional staff, our start-up would likely have never come to fruition.” - Ryan Degaraff (’25), Co-founder – Unwoven Apparel
Hours of operation:
Mon - Fri: 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.
