Business Daily

As the spectre of food insecurity grows and climate change threatens lives and livelihoods, could enset play a part in assuaging hunger? Elizabeth Hotson delves into the many and varied properties of a crop consumed mainly in parts of Ethiopia and she asks how it might be possible to widen the appeal of a plant which takes months to turn into an something edible.

Dr Wendewek Abebe from Hawassa university in southern Ethiopia is a leading researcher of enset and he explains why it’s known as the ‘tree against hunger.’ Dr Abebe also takes us on a trip to meet a farmer who cultivates the crop and considers it a superfood. Back in the UK, Dr James Borrell, a research fellow at Kew Gardens in London explains why cultivating - and ultimately consuming enset - takes a lot of time, energy and local knowledge. And Berhanu Tesfaye, owner of Zeret Kitchen, an Ethiopian restaurant in London, shares a rare meal of kocho - bread made from enset.

(Photo: Enset crop in Southern Ethiopia. Credit: Getty Images)

Presenter/producer: Elizabeth Hotson

Millions of people have been locked down in China for weeks, as the country battles a surge in Omicron cases, with a zero-Covid policy.

We follow one young woman’s journey across the country as she tries to reach her home in central China amid layers of bureaucracy and travel restrictions.

We hear how the lockdown is causing some major disruptions to the Chinese economy from Julian Evans-Pritchard, a China Analyst at Capital Economics.

Businessman Kent Kedl, who works at a Shanghai based risk consultancy firm, tells us what business – and life – has been like in lockdown.

And US-based epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding explains the advantages and disadvantages of China's Covid policies.

Presenter/Producer: Vivienne Nunis

Ivana Davidovic investigates urban mining - the process of reclaiming raw materials from spent products, buildings and waste. She looks at what new technologies are helping us to recycle waste and the benefits that could bring.

In Antwerp, Belgium, she visits Umicore, once a traditional smelting company, which now specialises in extracting precious metals from electronics - and then puts them into new products, like catalysts or car battery components.

On the other side of the world - in Sydney, Australia - professor and inventor Veena Sahajwalla explains her innovative way to produce so-called "green steel."

Jessika Richter, a researcher from Lundt University in Sweden, tells us why the booming electric vehicles industry will increasingly have to find raw materials for batteries outside of conventional mining. Heather Clancy, the editor of the US-based Green Biz magazine, says US carmakers are now investing in urban mining.

Pascal Leroy, the director-general of the WEEE Forum, discusses how re-using waste can help the rest of the world become less dependent on rare earth materials which come from Russia, China and Ukraine.

PHOTO: Aerial view waste management facility with cityscape background/Getty Images

How has the world of sport reacted to the invasion of Ukraine - and what does the exclusion of Russian and Belarusian athletes or teams mean for them and for the finances of world sport?

Ashish Sharma speaks to Michael Payne, who was for many years head of the marketing division of the International Olympic Committee.

He also hears from Cheri Bradish, an expert in sports marketing and the Director of the Future of Sport Lab at Ryerson University in Toronto, and Rob Koehler, the Director General of Global Athlete and formerly the World Anti-Doping Agency Director of Education and Deputy Director General.

Plus there's the Ukrainian tennis players Elina Svitolina and Alex Dolgopalov, the Ukrainian high jumper Yaroslava Mahuchikh, and Marius Vizer Jr, General Secretary of the international Teqball federation.

Presenter: Ashish Sharma

(Image: Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh in action during the high jump at the 2022 World Athletics Indoor Championships. Credit: Reuters)

What do you do when your staff are stuck in a conflict zone or dangerous situation? How do you get them out? Who pays for it? How do you persuade them to go back later?

Rahul Tandon speaks to Alex Nichiporchik whose gaming business tinyBuild has evacuated staff from Ukraine and Russia. He hears from Priscilla Dickey who was part of the US government evacuation from Wuhan in 2020.

Dale Buckner from Global Guardian explains the business of evacuation while Ian Umney discusses the rescue of his family from Ukraine.

Plus, Ema Boccagni from ECA International, which helps companies manage global workforces, reflects on the incentives required to attract workers back to some places.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon

After a volcanic eruption severed Tonga’s communication cable Elon Musk donated 50 Starlink terminals, allowing the government and residents to connect to the network of satellites orbiting above earth. The company have also sent the technology to Ukraine after Russia’s invasion, and we hear from Stepan Veselovskyi of Lviv IT Cluster using it to keep vital services online and Kyiv resident Oleg Kutkov, who bought a dish online before the war and now hopes to use it as a back-up in case conventional communication networks fail. It’s proved extremely useful, but is this the future for bringing internet to remote corners of the globe? We also hear from expert on space law Professor Melissa De Zwart about the race among SpaceX and other companies to put more of these satellites in low earth orbit, and how too many of them could impede dreams of further space exploration.

Presenter: Sam Fenwick

(Image: Oleg Kutkov with his Starlink dish; Credit: Oleg Kutkov)

Baleen whales were almost hunted to extinction. Now they face a new threat – global shipping. But despite humans blighting their lives, can they now recover and help revive ocean life?

Justin Rowlatt speaks to two researchers who observe these intelligent, sociable giants up close. Matt Savoca at Stanford University explains the scale of the slaughter inflicted by whalers in the twentieth century, while Ryan Reisinger of Southampton University describes how modern ships continue to harm whales.

By virtue of their sheer enormity, these animals also underpinned entire ocean ecosystems that have since collapsed, as veteran oceanic researcher Victor Smetacek explains. So with their numbers finally recovering, what can we humans do to help? Justin asks Guy Platten, secretary general of the International Chamber of Shipping.

Presenter: Justin Rowlatt

We’re looking at the future of the job interview in a world forever changed by the pandemic. Elizabeth Hotson asks whether video conferencing software will hasten the demise of the traditional face to face grilling. And we also find out how virtual reality and artificial intelligence can help level the playing field for candidates from disadvantaged backgrounds. Over a long and distinguished career in business, Heather McGregor, Executive Dean of Edinburgh Business School, has been on both sides of the desk - as interviewer and interviewee and she gives her take on how we’ll get jobs in the future. RADA alumna and confidence coach and trainer, Imogen Butler-Cole tells us how to put our best foot forward - over video conferencing. Christophe Mallet, founder and CEO of immersive soft skills simulator, Body Swaps, explains how technology can provide invaluable interview training to inexperienced candidates. Plus, Michael Platt, a marketing professor and neuroscientist at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania explains why the interview could soon be redundant in some industries.

Presenter/producer: Elizabeth Hotson

The mountainous archipelago of SãoTomé and Príncipe was once the world’s biggest exporter of cocoa. The twin island nation in the Gulf of Guinea was uninhabited until their discovery by Portuguese explorers in the fifteenth century. They brought slaves to work the land producing cash crops like sugar and coffee. In the 1890s these crops were replaced by cocoa and the islands became known as the biggest cocoa exporter in the world.

Produced by Russell Newlove

Image: Chocolate making; Credit: Russell Newlove/BBC

Remember the Colin Kaepernick advert for Nike? It’s one of the most controversial and successful advertising campaigns of the past decade. Former US President Donald Trump said the advert sent a terrible message but Nike saw a 30% boost in sales. In this episode of Business Daily former Nike Chief Marketing Officer, Greg Hoffman, the creative force behind the campaign, tells us how it came about and why diversity in advertising really matters.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon