In a challenging environment for commodity trading, knowledge is the key to success. Ampersand World and the University of Fribourg are giving young talents the opportunity to flourish.

Even though globalisation has most likely reached its peak already, the relations between national economies are still deeply interwined. And this phenomena has inevitably led to has led to a big increase in cross-border commodity trading. Notwithstanding, to the surprise of many, lawyers still generally lack the specialized knowledge and skills required to deal with international commodity trading.

Usually, they acquire it slowly on the job, through years of trials and errors. In the light of this reality, the Fribourg University is giving thousands of students the opportunity to flourish in one of the most fast-growing fields right now: Commodity Trading Law.

The Fribourg Law School has decided to launch a programme that will provide tomorrow’s traders with the tools they need to overcome future challenges. To quote the Swiss university, the LLM in Commodity Trading Law “teaches the specialized know how commodity trading companies and law firms seek when hiring new talents.”

Organisations Need To Reinvent Themselves

Talking about promising talents, with international trade evolving, the priorities of commodity industry must adjust and change accordingly. One of the first steps should be to strengthen its analytical capabilities and rejuvenate its talent pool.

“The industry is maturing after a period of rapid growth, but it is also facing big changes ahead,” said Roland Rechtsteiner, Commodity and Energy expert at Oliver Wyman.

“All commodity trading firms will have to review their business models.”

According to the recently published report, authored by Rechtsteiner, the world’s biggest commodity traders need to invest heavily in big data and technology if they are to arrest the relentless erosion of profit margins and recapture their information edge over rivals.”

What Oliver Wyman, one of the few consultancies to track the performance of the largely private industry, means between the lines is that innovation is key to thrive within this ever changing environment. If organisations don’t want to lag behind, they need to reinvent themselves. In order to do so, they should surround themselves with talented people who know how to think out-of-the-box in order to disrupt past outdated models.

Nurturing Young Talent with Training Programmes

With a distinguished Law School that covers essential topics in legal fields such as contracts and arbitration, compliance, international business law and commodity training, Fribourg has the potential to become the place where the future success of world’s best talents starts.

In fact, Fribourg is one of the most illustruous law schools in Switzerland, a country renowned for being a one of the world’s top commodity trading hubs. With regard to crude oil, grain, sugar, coffee, and metals, it ended on top of every official ranking in the last few years.

“Being in Switzerland, the world leader for commodity trading, provided valuable opportunities which I could not have obtained in any other country,” says Micah D. Wells, a US student currently studying at Fribourg Law.

“The networking opportunities and knowledge provided through conferences and seminars throughout Switzerland, proved to be extremely valuable and a great supplement to the classroom instruction.”

Soft Commodity Trading, the Foundation to Break New Ground

Geneva-based Ampersand World is trying to do its part, too, by providing certified online courses on soft commodity trading and the life cycles of goods. Anyone who wants to become a powerful commodity changemaker, from newly graduated student to senior professionals, can subscribe to the program.

For about 8 hours of training courses and complementary quizzes, Soft Commodity Trader & Economics Speaker Joshua Hawkins would guide you through where the goods move, why they move, who controls the process and how they operate. Being able to master of all these facets will prepare you to face tomorrow’s challenges.

Even if you already work for a trading firm, by learning each piece of the puzzle you will have a better understanding of the roles of all the players involved in the process and how you fit in. Once you know the key steps involved and once you are well aware of the many challenges which lie ahead of the commodity trading industry, you will have the foundation to break new ground. Because knowledge is the key to success.