Tim Hayward takes a journey into the world of fungi. There’s a global wave of interest in the potential uses of fungi right now - and businesses are catching on and playing their part. Tim starts at the Fungarium in Kew Gardens, the world’s biggest collection of dried fungal specimens, guided by collections curator Lee Davies. He then heads to a forest in Finland, where chief executive Eric Puro and lab manager Joette Crosier walk him through the setup at Kääpä Biotech - one of a new breed of fu...
Aug 05, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast China, the so-called engine of global growth, seems to be stalling badly right now. The country is facing rising unemployment, falling factory output and a collapsing property market. Plus, a growing number of regular Chinese citizens are complaining that the country's tough anti-Covid strategy isn't working. China has faced choppy economic waters before. But with record high-levels of domestic debt, does it now have the resources to shore up the holes when firms, banks and even local government...
Aug 04, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Gambling has a long and complex relationship with sport. But betting is no longer a man's game. As women's sport grows, many companies are putting big money on its success. In the last edition of our series looking at women, sport and business, we find out how one football side came back from the brink via a deal with Sweden's main gambling operator, Svenska Spel. We hear how England's victory in the Women's Euros could be a big win for the British betting sector. But as other sports eye up spon...
Aug 03, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In 2020, after months of civil unrest, China introduced a new security law in Hong Kong. The UK authorities said it 'violated' the one country, two systems principle established after the former colony was handed back to China in 1997. In response the UK has expanded the British National Overseas visa scheme which now offers the right to live and work in the UK for five years, as well as a path to citizenship. In the first 15 months about 125,000 people applied. We catch up with those starting n...
Aug 02, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast America’s rural hospitals face an uncertain future. One in three are now at risk of closure as doctors and nurses quit, patients struggle to pay their medical bills and government covid subsidies stop. We hear from the front line of one rural hospital in Luray, Virginia. Travis Clark, the hospital's president, and Dr David Lee explain the everyday challenges facing patients and staff. Alan Morgan from the National Rural Health Association tells us why rural hospitals are struggling. Michael Cann...
Aug 01, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast After 37 years, the longest-running drama in Australian TV history is coming to an end. We ask why the Neighbours funding model ultimately failed. We speak to Rob Mills, who played the notorious villain Finn Kelly, about his efforts for the show to be rescued. We also look at how the series launched so many careers both on and off the screen. And we go behind the scenes of the Neighbours set and speak to super-fans taking one last trip down their favourite fictional street. Presenter: Vivienne N...
Jul 29, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Skateboarding is one of the fastest growing sports in the world; it was included for the first time in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games in Japan. It's becoming increasingly popular among women and girls, but it does come with a price tag. Hannah Mullane speaks to Boipelo Awuah, one of only two female African athletes to qualify to compete in skateboarding at the Tokyo Olympics. Wendy Gila, the head of the South African Roller Sports Association, gives us her insight into how much it costs to make a ...
Jul 28, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast As part of our mini-series on women, sport and business we meet Cynt Marshall. She's the chief executive officer of the Dallas Mavericks and the first black female CEO in the history of the National Basketball Association, a professional basketball league in North America. Cynt tells us about her background, where she found the drive to forge an enormously successful career and how she’s changed the toxic and very male workplace culture she found when she arrived at the Mavericks. Presenter: Rah...
Jul 27, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Commonwealth Games 2022 is coming to England's second biggest city, Birmingham, which is home to almost six million people and more than 450,000 businesses. It's expected to create 35,000 new jobs and skills opportunities and generate an extra £1.2bn ($1.4bn) for the city's economy. Organisers are promising that it will be the most sustainable Commonwealth Games ever and will leave a carbon neutral legacy. That means any CO2 released into the atmosphere from the event will be balanced by an ...
Jul 26, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Climate change - which the United Nations defines as long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns - is a growing global problem, particularly for farmers. A recent UN report found agricultural productivity growth in Africa has decreased by 34 percent since 1961. That's more than any other region in the world. Michael Kaloki takes a road trip around Kenya, speaking to farmers about their struggles to grow crops with the increasingly unpredictable weather. He asks Rachel Bezner Kerr, a pr...
Jul 25, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw trained as a master brewer, but in late-1970s India she was rejected by the beer industry – it wasn’t seen as a job for a woman. Undeterred, she put her scientific mind and entrepreneurial prowess to setting up what would become one of India’s largest pharmaceutical companies, Biocon. She tells Rahul Tandon about her humble beginnings in business, overcoming challenges and inspiring other female entrepreneurs. Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producers: Rahul Tandon, Sam Clack, Rory C...
Jul 22, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Grace Livingstone investigates the ongoing case a group of men in Panama have brought against banana firms. We hear from two of the men who claim they were made sterile after handling a pesticide in their jobs on banana plantations. United States companies used a pesticide called DBCP on banana plantations in Latin America in the late 1970s, even though the United States restricted and then banned its use in mainland America because of the health risks. We ask why – even today - pesticides that ...
Jul 21, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Business Daily, the latest in our series on women, sport and business, we’re looking at the media. With women’s sport accounting for only around 5% of the total sports coverage globally, we’ll be finding out how some clubs and organisations are moving away from traditional media, and looking at digital and streaming to reach fans instead. Reporter Sam Fenwick visits Burnley FC Women in the north of England. Last year they signed a ground breaking deal with TikTok to show every...
Jul 20, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast By 2024, virtual reality is expected to reach a value of $1.2bn in the healthcare sector alone – and it’s already seeing adoption in major public healthcare bodies like the UK’s National Health Service. But many private businesses are the ones leading the change and working closely with hospitals, universities and pharmaceutical giants. We speak three businesses in three different parts of the world to find out what they’re doing to change healthcare. We hear from Matthew Wordley, CEO of the Wal...
Jul 19, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Lots of people want to work in the military in India – the jobs offered security, prospects and a gold-plated pension. But a new Government plan to change military employment contracts has drawn criticism and led to protests. The Government say the changes will tackle the increasing cost of military pensions and stubbornly high unemployment across India. Rahul Tandon and reporter Archana Shukla will explain why so many young people feel cheated by the plan to shorten military contracts and remov...
Jul 18, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast We take a look at the fortunes of Bollywood and Lollywood post pandemic. We’ll ask what the future holds for the film industries of India and Pakistan and explore whose creative ideas and business innovations in cinema are proving to be a hit with audiences. Emb Hashmi speaks to the stars of the new Lollywood film 'London Nahi Jaunga' and Nikhil Inamdar visits a Bollywood film set. We also hear from critics, directors and analysts who tell us what they think both film industries need to do to in...
Jul 15, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Ashish Sharma explores the problems facing one of the world’s oldest sports. A governance crisis has engulfed the sport of weightlifting and it faces an uncertain future, and as it stands weightlifting won´t feature in the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028. We explore the financial implications for this iconic Olympic sport if it loses the funding it gets for being on the Olympic agenda. We speak to young weightlifters about their future in the sport, attend a weightlifting contest in Mexico and repo...
Jul 14, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this episode of Business Daily, the latest in our series on women, sport and business, it's all about the merch. We'll explore how important replica tops and kits actually are for women’s sport in terms of fandom, participation and of course money. We ask what female sports fans and participants actually want to wear and whether they're being adequately catered for. Dr Katie Lebel is Professor at the University of Guelph in Canada and researches gender equity in sports branding and consumer b...
Jul 13, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are you a proud sharent? That is a parent who loves to post about your child online. Some have even turned it into a lucrative business, with incomes boosted by advertising deals and merchandise sales. Deborah Weitzmann meets Gemma Alster and her daughter Gigi. They tell us about working with brands to make advertising content for social media. We also find out why brands around the world are cashing in on the kid-fluencer craze with global brand expert Eddie Hammerman. In many countries, a lack...
Jul 12, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast Millions of people in Peru and Chile have been allowed to empty their retirement pots to cope with Covid-19 and rising prices, putting the pension system and the economy at risk. Chilean Senator Alejandra Sepulveda explains why she supported early pension withdrawals as a one-time emergency measure to reactivate the economy while the OECD’s expert on pensions Pablo Antolin explains the relevance of restricting this kind of initiatives to only those in need. We also hear from pension-dippers Ana ...
Jul 11, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast We explore the world of video game streaming - where players connect their screens to platforms such as Twitch or YouTube so that fans can watch them play. Elizabeth Hotson talks to Aoife Wilson, head of video at video game website Eurogamer who’s an enthusiastic streamer and industry watcher; she explains why watching people play games has turned into a multi-billion dollar industry. The BBC’s Faarea Masud gives a fan’s perspective, whilst Sam Matthews, CEO of e-sports brand, Fnatic gives us an...
Jul 08, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Brazilians will go to the polls to elect their next president in October. With Jair Bolsonaro trailing in polls behind former leader Lula da Silva, many voters say the economy is their main worry. We speak to small business owners in Vitoria, Espirito Santo, to get their thoughts on how financial concerns may influence voters’ choices. Mauricio Moura, founder of polling company IDEIA, tells us that the economy has never been as crucial going into a Brazilian election in modern history as it is t...
Jul 07, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast To coincide with the start of the Women's Euros and the Africa Women Cup of Nations, Business Daily launches a new series on women, sport and business. Haley Rosen is a former pro soccer player who now runs the digital sports media company Just Women’s Sports. When she stopped playing, Haley realised she couldn't access even basic information about women's sports, including fixtures, scores and all the other statistics available to those following male sports. Haley tells Sam Fenwick how she set...
Jul 06, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Are they really listening to us via our mobile phones and other smart devices? Eavesdropping to find out more about our most personal tastes and habits? Ed Butler investigates whether regular firms are trying to mine our data for commercial advantage. We ask experts what is technically possible in this field and find out whether the data gathered would actually be worth the effort. Presenter / Producer: Ed Butler Image: Smart speaker; Credit Getty
Jul 05, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sam Fenwick explores why peat is such an important carbon store and whether it’s use in compost should be banned. Sam visits a peat bog in the UK and speaks to garden centres in Japan and India, where like many parts of the world gardening boomed during the pandemic. She also heads to Estonia, one of the biggest exporters of peat in the world. Producer / Presenter: Sam Fenwick Image: Little Woolden Moss peat bog; Credit: Sam Fenwick
Jul 04, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Apple technology has revolutionised the world. The US company says there are now more than 1.5 billion Apple devices in active use globally - a billion of those are iPhones. It was 15 years ago this week that the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, first unveiled the iPhone. So how do you come up with such a world-changing idea? We find out from Tony Fadell - the co-inventor of the iPod and iPhone. He tells Jo Critcher how it took years of set-backs to find success and how it's important to never g...
Jul 01, 2022•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this Business Daily mini series we're exploring how businesses we all use regularly are being affected by the cost of living crisis. Leanna Byrne and Olivia Wilson look at the impact of inflation on those who supply car parts and fix our cars. Kelly Bysouth chief supply chain officer of the International Automotive Components group tell us manufacturing disruption and supply chains are key problems for this industry. We also hear from mechanics in Lagos, Nigeria, who tell us how their busines...
Jun 30, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this Business Daily mini series we're exploring how businesses we all use regularly are being affected by the cost of living crisis. Leanna Byrne goes from farm to fork, first speaking to farmers in Malawi and Canada about the rising costs of growing crops and rearing dairy cows, then getting the macro picture from Food Drink Europe, which represents food and drink giants like Nestle, Unilever and Danone. We also hear from Chris Hegadorn, Secretary of the UN’s Committee on World Food Security...
Jun 29, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this Business Daily mini series we're exploring how businesses we all use regularly are being affected by the cost of living crisis. This episode looks at how bakers are coping as the price of grain, dairy and the power needed to heat their ovens, all continue to increase. Leanna Byrne speaks to bakers in Egypt, France and Uganda – one baker tells us that the price increases she's seeing for ingredients means she should really have doubled her prices. Our French baker tells us the price of bu...
Jun 28, 2022•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast In this Business Daily mini series we're exploring how businesses we all use regularly are being affected by the cost of living crisis. This episode looks at how hairdressers are coping as the price of power and hair products continues to increase. Leanna Byrne speaks to hairdressers in South Africa, the USA and Germany – all report difficulties with rising overheads and the need to start passing those costs on to customers. We also look at how one haircare brand, selling direct to consumers, is...
Jun 25, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
