Indigenous Biz Con returns to Milwaukee to bridge gaps between Native and non-Native businesses.
The annual conference, hosted by the Indigenous Business Group, a non-profit founded by Native entrepreneurs to match Native-owned businesses with resources, centralizes discussions in Indian Country to explore enterprising opportunities. This year is especially important, said Rob Pero, co-founder of Indigenous Business Group, as previous federal funds across Native communities have been cut.
“Tariffs have raised the cost of goods, and funding has been cut for a number of projects that are really just on hold right now until they can either get released or find other capital to invest,” Pero said. “We’ve felt it as business owners as well, and the cost of doing business is up, budgets are cut too. It’s a really interesting time.”
This year’s theme will be “Rising Tides: Building Economics, Empowering Generations.” At the conference, representation from all of Wisconsin’s 11 tribes will be present, where a call to action will be explored on how to work together.
Native communities and enterprises sit on an interesting opportunity, Pero said. One of the key benefits in the wake of rising costs is that reservations are being classified as Foreign Trade Zones. The classification allows goods to be stored and produced without being subject to United States customs duties until they leave the reservation into the market.
The work around posits the potential for Native businesses to grow and thrive in areas outside of gaming ventures.
“Industries outside of gaming have become more diverse,” Pero said. “There’s been a lot of funding in the past that we’ve become reliant on, you know, grants for Native businesses, grants for CDFIs and these lending arms… and there’s a lot of post-pandemic money that comes out. All of that money is now gone.”
It’s not a “do or die” situation right now, Pero said, but it’s a critical time for Native businesses to branch out.
Sessions across the conference will look at what Tribal enterprises are doing, an outlook on the Great Lakes Indigenous Economy and its infrastructure projects, the growing effort in Indigenous Cannabis, building robust sovereign economies, networking and finding opportunities.
Indigenous Biz Con will be held over two days — Oct. 13-14 — at Potawatomi Casino, 1721 W. Canal St., in Milwaukee. The first day falls on Indigenous Peoples’ Day and will include a celebration at 7 p.m. A full schedule and tickets can be found on the Indigenous Business Group’s website.
