The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.
After tackling its security problem, can the smallest country in Central America get its finances under control too? We hear from street sellers, economists and locals about the issues they're still facing, and visit a surf town where tourism is having a big economic impact. Produced and presented by Jane Chambers (Image: A street market in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Tuesday, March 19, 2024. Credit: Getty Images)
The CEO of Vue International started out as a high school drop out as he wanted to concentrate on a snowsports career. We hear how, when that didn't work out, Tim Richards ended up entering the film industry and eventually starting his own cinema chain in his garage. Vue is now Europe's largest privately owned cinema chain but it hasn't been an easy ride - Tim tells us how the company has weathered both the Covid pandemic and the Hollywood writer's strikes. Presenter: Leanna Byrne Producer: Ambe...
With just over a week to go until the UK General Election, we head to the seaside town of Southport in the north west of England. We speak to students and young entrepreneurs who live in the area to find out how they are feeling. We ask about the impact of inflation and a rising cost of living, and see which issues they'd like to hear the politicians talking about. It's far from a British problem - Southport could really be a microcosm of the changes and challenges facing young people in a commu...
Ever needed to put your stuff in a storage unit? Recent research predicts the global self-storage market will be worth around $70bn by 2031 and the UK’s self-storage industry made more than £1bn last year for the first time ever. But what’s behind this rapid growth? What are people putting into these units? And what does it have to do with Gen Z and internet shoppers? We also hear from critics on what the growing industry says about housing around the world. Presented and produced by Sam Gruet (...
A shadow fleet of old and poorly maintained ships is cruising the high seas, often hiding their true identities through a series of shell companies. Their numbers have grown massively since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Lloyd’s List estimates as many as 12% of tankers are part of the dark fleet. There’s increasing concern about the danger to the environment, and to ship’s crews. But how effective at tackling the problem is the regulator, the International Maritime Organisation? Presen...
Senegalese international and former Chelsea goalkeeper Édouard Mendy is considered a legend of football. Becoming the first African to be awarded both the UEFA and FIFA goalkeeper of the year in 2021, followed by a big money transfer deal to Saudi Arabia, Mendy has reached the very heights of the game. But football careers don't last forever, so he is diversifying, and can now add a new line on his CV - as an investor in Francophone Africa. We hear about his work on the pitch to date, what’s mot...
The social shopping industry is estimated to reach around $8.5 trillion in global sales by 2030. So what are the big tech giants doing to win over a generation of teenagers hooked onto shopping on social media? We find out what makes shopping social and find out what happens when a country bans social shopping on the world’s fastest growing platform. We speak to Gen Z shoppers, social media experts and an Indonesian business owner who almost had to let his staff go after the government changed t...
As prize money gaps between men and women begin to close in many sports, in golf, the pay disparity is still very large. Nelly Korda, winner of five consecutive tournaments, earned less than Scottie Scheffler, who won four. And although current and former players like Korda and Mel Reid have made strides in the game, there's a significant difference in the prize money they receive. A lot of the disparity has been linked to the level of investment in the game. The men’s game has seen major cash i...
Summer tourism in the Mediterranean is not only already in full swing but set for another bumper season. In Rhodes, "the more the merrier” is the mantra on this famed Greek isle, which is economically reliant on tourism. But the growing influx of arrivals each year alongside increasing frequency and ferocity of the annual wildfire season is posing some hard questions for locals about the need for more environmentally-friendly forms of tourism. Now, an ambitious five-year programme is underway, a...
When is tourism good tourism, and when is it just too much? Current projections suggest global travel is going to carry on rising for the foreseeable future, as low-cost air travel and budget rentals make package holidays ever more affordable for ever more people. But from Tenerife to Venice, more and more tourist destinations are feeling the pressure of these rising visitor numbers. In holiday hotspots, local people are complaining of congested streets, rising housing costs, and environmental d...
23 years ago, the US multi-millionaire Dennis Tito became the world’s first-ever space tourist, funding his own trip into orbit. There was clearly money to be made, and now the lure of making space tourism more accessible to the masses is even greater - with several private companies jockeying for position. Jane Poynter’s firm is among them. It’s an industry experiencing dramatic growth – but the price of any of these trips is out of reach of most of us. We explore whether this firm could achiev...
The European country is known for its late night eating culture, the average time for an evening meal is past 9PM. One of the reasons for that is the working day across Spain which has a history of going on way into the evening. But recently the second deputy minister of Spain called this ‘madness’, saying eating so late and working late isn’t good for work-life balance. We speak to a restaurant owner and the CEO of digital agency that offers flexible working to talk about working culture and di...
Why does being on your own seem so expensive? The number of unmarried, divorced, widowed or unattached people is growing worldwide. But figures suggest it is more financial costly to be single, while couples and families benefit from paying less per person. Whether it is the packaging supermarkets use, streaming service tariffs, hotel rooms - you often get a much better deal being coupled-up than not. Governments are in on the act too: offering tax breaks to couples. In this programme, we take a...
We look at how soaring food and fuel prices are affecting the tiny island nation in the western Pacific Ocean. Like much of the world, the Covid-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine have led to supply chain issues, and rising costs. And with limited opportunities, young people are facing the question, should they stay or leave and chase careers elsewhere? Produced and presented by Frey Lindsay (Image: People gathered under the Japan-Palau Friendship bridge in Koror, Palau. Credit: Frey Lindsay/BBC...
We travel to the tiny pacific nation which wants to shrink its marine sanctuary, and open it up once more to commercial fishing. The President says it’s costing too much in lost revenue, when Palauans are already struggling. But opponents say this goes against Palau's conservationist ethos. So today we're asking - can conservation and commerce, co-exist? Produced and presented by Frey Lindsay (Image: The National Geographic Pristine Seas research vessel the Argo, in the Pacific Ocean East of Pal...
Diabetes and obesity drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro have become famous for helping users shed big amounts of weight. It's a market that could soon be worth more than $100 billion. Two companies dominate this space, Novo Nordisk which makes Ozempic and Eli Lilly, maker of Mounjaro. But with competitors desperate for a piece of the action, how long can these two giants stay in front? Leanna Byrne hears from some of the companies involved, including those at the centre of the action and th...
In the first of a two-part series, in collaboration with The Food Chain, we look at the impact of the success of weight-loss drug manufacturer Novo Nordisk on the small country of Denmark. The Scandinavian nation is where the company is based, and with a population of less than six million people, Novo is having an outsized impact on the economy there. Denmark is now publishing separate economic statistics, minus the pharmaceutical industry. One town in particular, Kalundborg, has seen huge chan...
President Biden has claimed the US economy is the ‘envy of the world’ and that his administration has added record job numbers, with around one million people hired since the turn of this year. With inflation falling and the possibility of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates, we find out if the rosy economic picture is being felt by those who are hiring or trying to get hired. (Image: A sign on a wall recruiting for staff at a hotel in California in 2024 as a man walks by. Credit: Getty I...
India has just finished its marathon elections and as the new government takes charge we take a look at one of its biggest challenges - rising youth unemployment. With an average age of 29 years, India’s population is one of the youngest globally, but job creation for them hasn’t been easy in this fast growing economy. The BBC’s Devina Gupta travels to Delhi to talks to students and first time job seekers about this growing job crisis and what can be done to solve it. Presenter and producer: Dev...
Exactly one year into his new job, we meet Ajay Banga, the President of the World Bank. He previously ran Mastercard, but following President Biden's nomination, Ajay Banga took on one of the most important roles in finance in June 2023. He tells us what steps he is putting in place to reform the organisation, how western governments are struggling to fund it to the same levels that it used to, and he warns inflation might not come down much further. Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Olie D'Alber...
We found out why the dating guru swapped a career in investment banking to become a matchmaker. Now famous for his role in the hit TV show ‘Married at First Sight’, Paul Carrick Brunson explains how his current career path wasn’t always written in the stars. But a combination of business acumen, the backing of his partner and a touch of luck led to a lucrative trade in matchmaking. He explains his core business principles and gives his top tips for discussing money in a relationship. (Image: Pau...
It's been two months since the collapse of the key bridge in Baltimore, and the deadline to unblock the port's shipping channel is imminent. The US government has given a loose promise to make it happen by the end of May - but there are doubts that deadline will be met, causing more disruption to the local and global economy. How will businesses on sea and land find a way through more uncertainty? Izzy Greenfield speaks to small businesses who are feeling the impact; from fewer customers to disr...
Most of us have noticed the prices of our weekly food shopping going up over the last few years, but some items have risen by astronomical amounts. Extra virgin olive oil - a premium, unprocessed oil from the olive, has seen many customers' prices rise by 50% in the past year alone. We explain why, as we hear from oil sommeliers and the people who buy and sell the product. (Image: Olive oil being poured into a bowl. Credit: Getty Images) Presented and produced by Rick Kelsey...
Female-only co-working spaces started to grow during the #metoo movement. But some have struggled. We speak to entrepreneurs who are running these spaces - and the women working in them. Are they a viable alternative to going to the office? (Picture: Oi Leng Lui, who founded the co-working space, The Hearth, in north London.) Presented and produced by Dougal Shaw
Laura Chinchilla was the first woman to serve as president of Costa Rica and one of the first in Latin America. We talk to her about what that journey to the top job in her country was like, and the challenges facing Latin America - from corruption to crime, the drugs trade, migration, the brain drain, poor governance and low economic productivity. And we consider some of the potential solutions to those problems - solutions that could help Latin America bring prosperity to its people. (Picture:...
Across the region, there are examples of economic success stories: countries, companies and people that are getting things right, transforming their local economies and bringing prosperity to the region. We go to Peru, where fruit producers are enjoying a blueberry boom. We hear from Uruguay, which generates almost all its electricity from renewable energy, and we visit a factory Mexico that’s benefiting from “nearshoring” and the country’s proximity to the United States. We talk to two female e...
From soybean production to coffee exports to sugar cane, grains and tropical fruit - agriculture is powering the Brazilian economy. We travel to a farm outside the capital Brasilia, and look at how the country could play a major role in providing the world with food security in the years ahead. And we consider a major threat to agriculture – climate change, which is forcing Brazilian farmers to adapt to survive. We talk to the Brazilian head of the International Coffee Organisation – on what her...
Go back 50 years and Latin America was generally wealthier than East Asia. But that has been reversed. While the economies of East and South East Asia have taken off, enjoying a so-called "economic miracle", Latin America’s have experienced only tepid growth, despite the region’s enormous potential. Gideon Long asks why. We go to Singapore, one of the most open and business friendly nations on earth, to visit a factory making credit cards using the latest computer chips. And we ask economists wh...
It's a region blessed with incredible natural resources, from copper to lithium to rich agricultural lands. It’s home to vibrant cultures, amazing music and creative and talented people. And yet it has never fulfilled its enormous economic potential. All too often it’s lurched from boom to bust, from hyperinflation to debt crises. We ask why that is. We consider corruption, crime, inequality, excessive bureaucracy and weak governance. We look at Argentina’s long decline and Venezuela’s economic ...
We head to the robot workshop home of Marty the robotical. Sandy Enoch founded the Scottish tech firm Robotical which creates educational robots. Produced and presented by Dougal Shaw. (Image: Marty the robot)
