Business Daily

Ju Rhyu, Korean-American founder of Hero Cosmetics who created the Mighty Patch, tells the story of turning a K-beauty discovery into a global hit. She recounts launching via Amazon, rapid early growth, scaling supply chains from Korea, and why she sold the business. Conversation also covers changing acne culture and concerns about marketing advanced skincare to young people.

Doris Liu, economist in Malaysia, outlines which Asian economies are most exposed to energy shocks. Mohadeen Rubel, Bangladeshi garment manufacturer, talks supply-chain strain and rising costs for exporters. Putra Adinguna, Indonesian energy policy expert, discusses fuel subsidies, fiscal pain and four-day work weeks. Tran Vo, Bangkok reporter, files vivid on-the-ground scenes of queues, shortages and business impacts.

Contributors include local business owners and industry figures plus experts like Mark Zandi (Moody’s chief economist) and Thomas Philipson (former White House economic adviser). They describe Minneapolis raids, protests and labour disruptions. Conversations cover construction delays, farms left unharvested, calls for guest-worker schemes, and how enforcement may ripple through projects and job growth.

Sarah Olesfi, Chair of the Inuit Circumpolar Council, speaks for Arctic Indigenous communities and environmental protections. Maz Boyd-Peterson, CEO of Pangaea Logistics Solutions, shares hands-on experience with ice-class ships and Northwest Passage voyages. Daniel Richards, Director at Maritime Strategies International, analyses navigability, traffic patterns and commercial prospects. They discuss new Arctic routes, seasonal windows, geopolitical interest and local concerns.

Jorge Pignon, a veteran oil executive and energy researcher, and Maria Jose Espinosa, a DC-based advocate with on-the-ground Cuba experience, discuss Cuba's deepening crisis. They talk about chronic blackouts, fuel supply and aging power infrastructure. They also cover migration surges and whether limited reforms or foreign investment can turn the situation around.

Chika Madubuko, founder and CEO of Greymate Care who turned a family care crisis into a caregiving platform. She talks about designing an app for rural Nigeria, testing the idea with her grandmother, verifying and training caregivers, building offline and AI tools, and scaling to thousands of carers and multiple countries.

As the world faces another energy crisis, what can past shocks teach us? We look back at earlier oil crises to understand how conflict has disrupted global supply - and what that means for markets today. We hear from a former boss of one of the world’s biggest oil companies, BP, on the challenges the business faced when Saddam Hussein invaded Kuwait. And as many of us are now facing rising prices at the pumps, we explore how reliant we’ve become on oil and whether it’s possible to reduce our dependence on it anytime soon. If you'd like to get in touch with the programme, our email address is businessdaily@bbc.co.ukPresenter: Rahul Tandon Producers: Rebecca Smyllie and Josh MartinBusiness Daily is the home of in-depth audio journalism devoted to the world of money and work. From small startup stories to big corporate takeovers, global economic shifts to trends in technology, we look at the key figures, ideas and events shaping business.Each episode is a 17-minute, daily deep dive into a single topic, featuring expert analysis and the people at the heart of the story.Recent episodes explore the weight-loss drug revolution, the growth in AI, the cost of living, the economic impact of the war in the Middle East, and why bond markets are so powerful.We also feature in-depth interviews with company founders and some of the world's most prominent CEOs. These include Google's Sundar Pichai, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and the CEO of Canva, Melanie Perkins.(Picture: Plumes of smoke rise over the oil depot tanks hit by joint Israel-US overnight in a station north west of the Iranian capital, Tehran, the 8th of March 2026. Credit: Getty Images)

Hans Ossenbrugge, founder and CEO of Talk360, builds affordable internet-assisted calls to offline numbers. Oluseyi Akini-Boson, entrepreneur behind Froggy Talk, helps African migrants call landlines and feature phones while offering cultural and language support. They discuss routing cheaper calls via wholesalers. They cover local payment methods, distribution through airtime networks, and why offline-call services remain vital despite growing internet access.

Germany is tackling a labour shortfall by recruiting young skilled workers from India for apprenticeships in trades like butchery, mechanics and childcare. Local firms and municipalities describe how overseas trainees have kept businesses and services running. The initiative has quickly expanded and aims to scale up significantly by 2030.

David Lee, an economist advising Beijing on fiscal policy. Stanton, a Shanghai entrepreneur building startups in manufacturing and AI. Jacob Rothman, president of a Shanghai manufacturing firm. Han Lin, Asia Group head in China tracking consumer trends. They discuss China shifting from breakneck growth to stability, frugality and changing consumer patterns, startups and AI-driven manufacturing, and policy moves toward domestic priorities.