Business Daily BBC Podcasts

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 disruption to supply chains.
Baltimore used to rank first among US ports for autos and light trucks, handling a record 850,000 vehicles last year. Importantly, the port is where vehicles are processed and labelled to be sold domestically. We hear how the industry is seeing an immediate impact. And we learn about the struggles that transportation workers continue to face.
(Image: Baltimore bridge after it collapsed in March 2024. Credit: Getty Images)
Presented and produced by Izzy Greenfield

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: Laura Chinchilla Miranda, former President of Costa Rica, speaking at a conference. Credit: Getty Images)
Presented and produced by Gideon Long

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 entrepreneurs – one from Chile and one from Colombia – on how the ecosystem for start-ups has evolved in their countries and the exciting possibilities the region has to offer.
Produced and presented by Gideon Long
(Image: Close-up on a worker loading baskets of blueberries on a truck at a plantation. Credit: Getty Images)

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 home country can do to deal with extreme weather events.
And away from agriculture, we consider Brazil’s heavy industry, and ask why it hasn’t made more of its rich musical heritage.
Produced and presented by Gideon Long.
(Image: Cultivation of sugarcane in the interior of the State of São Paulo. Huge areas are cultivated and after harvesting will come sugar, alcohol, drink and ethanol. Credit: Getty Images)