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BBC World Service


The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.


Business Daily

We find out why the country Japan ranks so poorly in the World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Index and hear about what’s being done to change things

From bottom-up initiatives to raise the next generation of female entrepreneurs and businesses leaders and to the work being done by one of the country’s top educational institutions as it tries to shake off its men–only image. 

And will the country’s first female prime minister be the catalyst for change?

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, you can email us at businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Produced and presented by Phoebe Amoroso

(Image: Yumiko Murakami, co-founder of the WPower fund, the first in Japan to focus solely on supporting female founders and women-empowerment businesses)

Raising Japan’s female leaders

When is a bubble a bubble? When is hype around a new technology signalling the dawn of a new industrial revolution? We assess the arguments for and against AI and its inflated valuations. 

AI firms and their stocks have surged in the last year, accounting for more than 80% of America’s economic growth. But is there real demand underpinning this?

To get in touch with the programme, you can email us at businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Ed Butler
Producer: Gideon Long

(Picture: The Nasdaq MarketSite in New York, US, on Tuesday, March 11, 2025. Credit: Getty Images)

Is the AI boom a bubble?

New York City is in the midst of a cost of living crunch. As a result, the race to become its next mayor this week has been dominated by how to make the city more affordable.

We hear about radical plans and ask whether they add up, and look at what the race to run the capital of capitalism might teach other cities about how to fight an affordability crisis.

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, you can email us at businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Matt Lines

(Picture: The sun sets on the skyline of lower Manhattan and One World Trade Center in New York City on October 24, 2025, as seen from Jersey City. Credit: Getty Images)

Is this New York’s cost of living election?

We speak to the American founder and CEO of Stine Seed, the largest private seed company in the world, Stine Seed Company. 

Harry Stine recalls working in a field on the family soybean farm at the age of four, and says he was soon driving tractors before officially starting work with his father. 

It was then that he realised the potential of plant breeding and seeds, leading him to start his own company. 

Stine Seed Company now has 1000 patents, and receives fees on about 85% of the acreage in the United States. 
 
Presenter: Ed Butler
Producer: Amber Mehmood

(Image: Harry Stine. Credit: Stine Seed Company)

Business Daily meets: Harry Stine

As Canada’s trade war with the US rumbles on, Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced ambitions for the country to become an "energy superpower" in clean electricity, oil and gas. 
 
Supporters say it could boost jobs and investment, but critics warn it may come at an environmental cost. 

We’ll hear about the projects underway, the challenges that could hinder them, and look at how other countries have achieved ‘superpower’ status. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Sam Gruet
Producer: Megan Lawton

(Picture: A flare stack at the LNG Canada facility in Kitimat, British Columbia, Canada. Credit: Getty Images)

Can Canada become an energy superpower?

Since the Taliban took over from a US-led government in Afghanistan in 2021, the economic challenges facing the country have been huge. The amount of aid going in to the country has dropped, the banking system is difficult to navigate, and international investors are staying away. 

That is before considering the economic impact of natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods and droughts, which have frequently ravaged rural areas. Government investment seems unlikely, so experts and business owners hope that the private sector can help to rebuild Afghanistan after years of turmoil. 

To get in touch with the programme, you can email us at businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Producer/presenter: Hannah Bewley

(Photo: A man selling used household appliances in a street in Kabul, Afghanistan, in 2020. Credit: Getty Images)

Afghanistan: Can its private sector step up?

Renowned for its multi-step skincare routine and its foundation in the ever trendy Korean culture, K-beauty has become a multi-billion dollar industry across the globe.

The term covers a wide range of skincare, make-up and cosmetics from South Korea and is lauded for its quality and value.

But as demand grows, tens of thousands of companies are claiming to be K-beauty, and not all of them are based in South Korea. This has raised questions about its identity and authenticity. 

In the midst of its identity crisis, counterfeiters are now getting involved.

So, what puts the K in K-beauty?

We hear from manufacturers, retailers and industry bodies who might have an idea.

Presented and produced by David Cann
Sound mix: Ben Houghton

(Picture: A young Asian woman applying a moisturising cream in front of a mirror. Credit: Getty Images)

The blurring of K-beauty

We head to Sweden where a handful of mechanics are taking on one of the world’s richest companies - and the world's richest man Elon Musk.

The strike at Tesla’s workshops has now reached its second anniversary. 

It’s a clash of ideologies, in which each side has much at stake. 

And after two years there is still no prospect of a resolution.

Presenter: Tim Mansel
Sound mix: Annie Gardiner

(Image: Striking worker Janis on the picket line in Malmo, Sweden.)

The two-year Tesla strike

Bill Ready started his working life in his parents' auto repair shop. Now, his world looks very different as CEO of the social media platform, Pinterest. It's an app where you can search for things like recipes, home decor, and fashion.

Pinterest has enjoyed strong growth since the company was launched in 2010. The platform has been valued at more than 22 billion dollars. But when it added controls for younger users the share price tanked. 

Bill Ready tells Business Daily how the company's tried to make the platform safer for younger users, where the business is growing globally, and what the future might look like for the company as AI technology develops apace. 

Presenter: Shiona McCallum
Producers: Niamh McDermott and Hannah Mullane

(Picture: Bill Ready speaking at a conference. Credit: Getty Images)

Business Daily meets: Pinterest CEO Bill Ready

From private equity Mega funds to Hollywood actors and hip hop stars, we look at the appeal of British football. 

More than a third of clubs in England's professional football leagues are now owned in part or entirely, by US investors. 

So why do so many Americans seem to want to invest in UK football clubs and what makes the so called ‘beautiful game’ such an attractive investment?

Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Matt Lines

(Tom Brady, Birmingham City co-owner and film director Matt Alvarez in the stands during the match between Birmingham City and Leeds United in 2023 in Birmingham, England. Credit: Getty Images)

The Americans investing in British football

What role can businesses play in filling Africa's cartographical gaps? And can better maps help fight diseases like cholera?

In her third and final programme about the progress being made in properly charting the continent, Katie Prescott asks what companies can do in locations where satellite images cannot penetrate dense rainforest and cloud cover, or in slums whose streets are not navigable by Google streetview cars.

She speaks to John Kedar of Ordnance Survey, Zanzibar planning minister Muhammad Juma, Tom Tom vice president Arnout Desmet.

(Picture: Satellite images of rural Tanzania; Credit: Google maps)

Africa's Missing Maps

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