Could Belfast see an influx of workers from cities like London post-Covid? Michael Graham heads up Northern Ireland's largest construction firm, Graham Group. He tells John Mulgrew some businesses are revisiting construction and development plans post-Covid to see whether they still wish to proceed, but remains positive about the state of the market, and that Belfast could see growth in the medium to long term as workers move from cities such as London to less dense areas.

Retailers in Northern Ireland are seeing sales dropping by as much as 60% in Belfast and beyond amid industry calls to bring back office workers here to secure the future of our cities and towns, according to Glyn Roberts, chief executive of Retail NI. He speaks to John Mulgrew about the calm before the storm wanting to see a return to offices among many of Northern Ireland’s biggest businesses, with the high street relying on footfall and spend from workers.

Michael Neill has worked through a number of recessions in the last 20 years, but says what is now around the corner is ‘not just going to be different because of severity but because of its uniqueness’. The head of Belfast office for A&L Goodbody speaks to John Mulgrew about the next wave of economic turmoil to hit our shores, the resilience of our Top 100 firms, but that this year’s list may be a high water mark for some time.

Roseann Kelly, chief executive of Women in Business, says it “will be mostly women that are losing their jobs” in Northern Ireland as sectors such as customer-facing retail and hospitality face significant cuts here amid pandemic pressures. And she says female entrepreneurs are suffering badly as a result of the crisis, with childcare issues becoming the biggest barrier for businesses. She speaks to John Mulgrew

“It will be mostly women that are losing their jobs,” she told the Ulster Business Podcast with Bank of Ireland.

It’s been more than a decade in the making, but a £240m waste to energy plant for Mallusk is now on the desk of Infrastructure Minister Nichola Mallon. John Mulgrew speaks to John Ahern, one of those behind the Arc 21 scheme – business development director Indaver UK and Ireland, the private sector investor behind the Becon Consortium – about the thousands of residents opposed to the development and why people must “understand the bigger picture”, when he expects a decision and the need for such a large scale incinerator to deal with 300,000 tonnes of black bin waste from six Northern Ireland councils.

Operating an essential service amid a pandemic isn't easy, with public transport passenger numbers down to 10% of normal capacity. John Mulgrew speaks to Translink chief executive, Chris Conway, about coping amid coronavirus, the impact to its finances, backing making face masks mandatory on the high street as well as transport, when we could see a return to normalised levels on our bus and train network, and a fresh focus on a greener future post-pandemic.

How do you operate a medical technology firm when your research facilities and clinical trials are happening on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean? John Mulgrew speaks to Dr Jason McKeown, founder of Neurovalens, about landing £5m of fresh investment amid a pandemic, weighing up continuing clinical trials amid the crisis, when he can get back to the US, and looking at tackling the other health factors which can have a huge detrimental effect when a person contracts Covid-19.

Could Fibrus become the broadband equivalent of budget airline Ryanair? Founder Conal Henry optimistically says it's a possibility. His new firm is spending up to £200m rolling out its new 'full fibre' service across regional areas in Northern Ireland. He speaks to John Mulgrew about how demand has already changed amid Covid-19 and putting us at the top of the list in connectivity in just five years.

Is it the end of globalisation? Mark O’Connell, chief executive of OCO Global, says it’s not the end but we will see significant changes to our workforce and approach to air travel. The head of the business and economic development business speaks to editor John Mulgrew about seeing a 50% slump in foreign direct investment, which he says will return, saving tens of thousands on its own travel and a fall in wages overall as an increasing number of people find themselves out of work here.

According to Tourism NI chief executive, John McGrillen, four months of lockdown has led to a huge £200m hit to our economy here. He speaks to John Mulgrew about reopening, spending the next three to four years trying to get back to where we were, international tourism not taking off until spring 2021, while a reliance on visitors for GB and the Republic may be in our favour.