Business School

Many people who have come to Hamburg from African countries in recent years want to be active in the import-export business. But most often capital is missing. The African Terminal is an organization of traders from Gambia, Ghana and Nigeria who have knowledge about the sales markets in their respective countries of origin and will further qualify themselves within the first trading transactions. In the course of our second transaction we will furthermore publish a guide on 'How to Send Things to Africa' that is a collection of our logistics know-how which we want to share.

Not only the traders, but also the cultural workers involved in the project want to learn something. Our common research is concerned with the following questions: Did you know that 90 percent of stuff that we use in our daily life comes to us by ways of the sea? 130 million tons of cargo from over 900 different ports around the globe is being cleared in Hamburg port each year. Logistics and the shipping business have become one of the biggest economic sectors worldwide. Analysts speak of a logistical turn.

But as it is always huge corporations that control the market, less and less people are actively involved in the transportation sector. Even if the history of Hamburg as a city is closely linked to its harbor, today, very few citizens of Hamburg do have knowledge about sea trade. This is a global trend: 'We suffer from sea blindness', the chief of the British Navy claims.

The African Terminal wants to do something about this sea blindness. It allows us to practically experience how global logistics is being handled in the Hamburg port, how sea trade functions and who makes profits from is. For us, the most important question remains: How can we use trade as a means for joint action?

The Business School of the African Terminal cooperates with the graduate school Performing Citizenship (Hafencity Universität/HAW Hamburg/FUNDUS THEATER/ K3 – Zentrum für Choreographie) and is connected to research projects on the relation of sound and remembrance of colonial history (Katharina Kellermann), on the relation of logistics and choreography (Moritz Frischkorn), and on paralogistics (Sibylle Peters).

In its future development, the business school of the African Terminal is interested in cooperations with NGOs, and official institutions such as the chamber of commerce, or job centers. Please contact us, if you are interested!