7th annual 'Wiring the Rez' event launches Feb. 4

Information on navigating the complex tribal e‑commerce environment via sovereignty and entrepreneurial diversification will be shared with tribes and tribal entrepreneurs at "Wiring the Rez: Innovative Strategies for Business Development Via E-Commerce" on four dates in February.

The Indian Legal Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at Arizona State University and the Rosette, LLP Economic Development Program will host the seventh annual conference from 2 to 3:30 p.m. MST, Feb. 4, 11, 18 and 25. The conference will be virtual this year and free for interested parties. Registration is available at law.asu.edu/wiringtherez.

Conference participants will learn about business opportunities, legal and jurisdictional changes affecting tribal business decisions, and more from featured speakers:

• Geoffrey Starks, FCC commissioner.
• Hilary Tompkins, partner, Hogan Lovells, and former solicitor for the Department of Interior.

Very few Indian reservations have functioning economies in which residents can gain employment at living wages, purchase goods or services, find adequate housing, bank or seek a higher education. These negative affects drain money from reservation economies and further create instability within the community. Establishing e-commerce businesses allows tribal governments and tribal entrepreneurs to address these problems, diversify their market and build a stronger reservation economy.

E-commerce retains its dollars on reservations by creating viable businesses that circulate dollars within reservation economies. Tribal governments can then encourage businesses to locate on reservations by adopting laws and creating stable and fair court systems. In addition, tribes can use taxation and regulatory strategies to attract private investments and new businesses onto reservations.

“Tribal governments and Indians engaging in business on reservations have to consider using e‑commerce to diversify and strengthen tribal economies,” said Robert J. Miller, director of the Rosette, LLP American Indian Economic Development Program at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law at ASU.

Find more information at law.asu.edu/wiringtherez or contact Kate Rosier, executive director, Indian Legal Program.