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BBC World Service


The daily drama of money and work from the BBC.


Business Daily

We meet retail turnaround expert Joanna Reynolds, the woman behind the revival of the Folio Society, one of Britain’s oldest publishing houses. 

Ten years ago, the company was losing money and facing an existential threat from the digital revolution.

Joanna explains how she transformed the business from a failing book club to a profitable, employee-owned publisher.

If you'd like to get in touch with Business Daily, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Sam Fenwick
Producer: David Cann

(Picture: Joanna Reynolds, CEO of the Folio Society, holding a book. Credit: Dunja Opalko)

CEO of the Folio Society, Joanna Reynolds

Festive celebrations at Christmas and New Year often involve increased alcohol consumption in many parts of the world. For some, that’s followed by a decision to take a break from drinking. It's become widely known as Dry January.

However, data shows that more people are choosing to reduce their alcohol intake all year round. 

Alcohol-free drinks only make up about 1% of the total industry, but their popularity has risen quickly, and the vast majority is beer. 

How influential is Dry January really in this growing trend? And how will the smaller producers, who pioneered the non-alcoholic sector, fare now that the drinks giants are producing their own zero percent products? 

We examine the changing adult drinks market. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by Imran Rahman-Jones

(Picture: Sonja Mitchell, founder of Jump Ship Brewing, based in Scotland, UK, holding a glass of non-alcoholic beer up in the air. Credit: Jump Ship Brewing)

The 'Dry January' effect

Outrage has been growing in Iran over the country's struggling economy. Any growth this year or next looks unlikely.

Protests starting in the capital have spread around the country, driven by mounting economic pressures, sanctions and rising consumer prices. They've been met with a violent crackdown by the government. More than two thousand people are reported to have been killed since the protests began and Iran remains under a days-long internet blackout.

In this edition of Business Daily, we examine what has gone wrong with Iran’s economy and why financial pressures have led to so many people taking to the streets.

If you'd like to contact the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rahul Tandon
Producers: David Cann and Matt Lines

(Picture: An employee arranges a shelf at a store in the Iranian capital Tehran on the 7th of January 2026. Credit: Getty Images)

What's gone wrong with Iran's economy?

The power of the global bond market seems to have grown in recent years, to the extent that it can now dictate government policy and even topple political leaders. How much clout do the debt markets actually have and should they be reined in? 

Many rich nations are more indebted than they have ever been in modern times, meaning that some are spending more simply on servicing their debt than on schools, hospitals or military defence. 

In the second of two programmes on the bond market, we ask, how sustainable is that debt and should we be worried about it? 

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Ed Butler
Producer: Gideon Long

(Photo: A view of financial buildings in the City of London. Credit: Getty Images)

Bonds: Has the debt become too big?

We explore how the world became so dependent on bonds, those IOUs from governments and firms that helped build the modern economy. Bonds are often dismissed as a dull corner of finance, but behind the scenes they have played a central role in major economic dramas around the world. 

We hear about their history, how they have shaped companies and countries, and why some fear the bond market could trigger the next global meltdown. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rob Young
Producer: Gideon Long

(Photo: A bond issued in 1648 by a Dutch water board to finance improvements to a local dike system. The bond, written on vellum, is held at Yale University Beinecke Library and is believed to be one of the oldest in the world that still pays interest. Credit: Yale University)

Bonds: Heroes or villains?

We hear from a man who is immersed in the world of startups, innovation, venture capital, and the work of policymakers whose job it is to strengthen Europe's standing in all those fields. He's also a Prince of the Netherlands and the brother of the Dutch King. 

Constantijn van Oranje has worked as a business consultant and at the European Commission. He is now a champion of the Dutch tech sector through his organisation, Techleap, set up to support the founders and startups hoping to shape the future of Europe's economy. It's given him a platform to have his say on some of the most pressing issues facing Europe today - but how does he balance his role with that of Prince? 

We talk politics, regulation and unicorns. 

If you'd like to get in touch with Business Daily, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by Matthew Kenyon

(Photo: Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands presents the annual report of Techleap during the conference State of Dutch Tech on 12 February, 2025 in The Hague, Netherlands. Credit: Getty Images)

Prince Constantijn of the Netherlands

The United Arab Emirates has become the largest state investor in Africa. It's spending billions of dollars across the continent; building ports, power plants and renewable energy projects. 

We look at why Emirati companies are expanding so rapidly, and find out how much this investment is reshaping economies.

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presented and produced by Sameer Hashmi

(Picture: General view of Berbera Port and Bebera city in Somaliland in the Horn of Africa, on 31st August 2021. Dubai-based port operator DP World and the Government of Somaliland, opened a container terminal at Berbera Port in June 2021. Credit: Getty Images)

The UAE's growing influence in Africa

Will the boom in artificial intelligence continue in 2026? We hear how the world’s biggest companies are jockeying for position in the race to dominate the field. After a year of record spending on AI, we look at how sustainable that type of investment might be in the year ahead. 

Plus - what gadgets could become mainstream in 2026? 

The BBC's Technology Editor, Zoe Kleinman, and North America technology correspondent in Silicon Valley, Lily Jamali, give Will Bain their predictions. 

If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Matt Lines

(Picture: Guests including CEO of Meta Mark Zuckerberg; Amazon founder Jeff Bezos; CEO of Google Sundar Pichai; and CEO of Tesla, SpaceX, X and xAI Elon Musk, arrive before the 60th Presidential Inauguration in Washington, on Monday, 20th of January 2025. Credit: Getty Images)

How might tech shape our world in 2026?

We explore how economies and companies rode out the tariff-driven economic storms of 2025 and hear how many continue to forge new partnerships in a changing world of global trade. 

Asia business correspondent, Suranjana Tewari, and India business correspondent, Arunoday Mukharji, join us from Singapore and Delhi to discuss what the year might hold for the region's biggest economic players. 

If you'd like to contact the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Will Bain
Producer: Matt Lines

(Picture: India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi and China's President Xi Jinping shaking hands at the Brics summit of emerging economies held in Russia in 2024. Credit: Getty Images)

Can Asia’s economic growth hold up in 2026?

After American forces arrested and removed the leader of Venezuela, Rahul Tandon looks at what the future might hold for the world's largest oil reserve, and what can we learn from the country's past.

Many US companies were forced out of Venezuela when the oil industry was nationalised in the 1970s. The type of oil found there is also hard to reach and complicated to refine. 

We look at its difficult history, where the oil it produces now goes to, and whether US oil companies will want to spend the tens of billions of dollars it is thought will be needed to fix Venezuela's oil infrastructure. 

If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.uk

Presenter: Rahul Tandon
Reporter: Gideon Long
Producer: Justin Bones

(Picture: A man wearing a face mask walks past a mural depicting an oil pump and the Venezuelan flag in a street of Caracas, on 26 May, 2022. Credit: Getty Images)

What's the future for Venezuelan oil?

We hear the arguments of leading US academic and author, Daniel Markovits, whose book The Meritocracy Trap argues that meritocracy in the United States and other Western free-market economies is a myth that fuels inequality.

Temba Maqubela, the head of The Groton School - one of America's top private schools - outlines the role that elite establishments such as his could play in helping less advantaged students. Meanwhile Samina Khan, director of undergraduate admissions at Oxford University, says top universities like hers are working hard to target a more diverse range of applicants. Plus Kiruba Munusamy, an advocate at the Supreme Court of India, describes how a system of positive discrimination helped her get a top job despite India's caste system.

Producer: Laurence Knight

(Photo: Signposts for Yale and Harvard, Credit: Getty Images)

Is the West really meritocratic?

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