Ade Ayeyemi, the CEO of Ecobank - Africa’s biggest bank - speaks to presenter Peter MacJob about the economic woes facing much of Africa and explores the leadership and policy adjustments needed to turn the continents fortunes around.

In a candid and wide ranging interview Mr Ayeyemi says that African governments need to stop introducing subsidies and start collecting more taxes in order to manage their economies better.

Presenter/producer: Peter MacJob

(Photo: Ade Ayeyemi, CEO Ecobank. Credit: Getty Images)

For the final episode of our cost of living series, the Business Daily team are in Dresden, a manufacturing powerhouse in the east of Germany.

Leanna Byrne speaks to small business owners, students considering taking on extra paid work and a big manufacturing boss about how the rising cost of living is affecting them and their livelihoods.

Detlef Neuhaus, the chief executive of one of Germany's biggest renewables companies - Solarwatt - tells us how the war in Ukraine has changed the mindset of some people when it comes to the value of renewable energy and how their manufacturing costs have gone up in recent months.

Presenter: Leanna Byrne Production: Izzy Greenfield and Alex Bell Image: Dresden; Credit: Getty Images

We all know a coffee shop, a restaurant, a greasy spoon, a pub or a fine dining eatery that has closed in the last few months. But why, after two years of forced closures because of the coronavirus pandemic, are hospitality businesses closing now?

Leanna Byrne speaks to hospitality business owners from three different countries to find out how they’re covering their overheads.

Alessandro Borghese is a chef who owns restaurants in Milan and in Venice. He says he’s paying more for everything from food to oils and staff.

And Mandla Mataure is the managing director for the Chimanimani Hotel in Manicaland in eastern Zimbabwe.

Zimbabwe ended 2023 reporting a 244% inflation rate. How does Mandla deal with constant price rises when staff are looking for more money?

Oliver Mansaray owns the restaurant, Kink, in Berlin. Oliver opened his first ever hospitality business right before the pandemic struck. Like Mandla, he’s taken on the cost of living challenge by cutting costs elsewhere and trying to be more efficient.

Presenter/producer: Leanna Byrne )Image: Oliver Mansaray in Kink, Berlin/ Credit: Oliver Mansaray)

Whether renting or buying, housing costs are going up.

Presenter Leanna Byrne takes you back home with her to Dublin, Ireland to discuss what all Dubliners love to moan about: the rising cost of renting.

According to a report by Daft.ie, which lists places to rent or buy in Ireland, at the end of 2022 rent in Dublin had risen to an average $2,446 per month.

And the rising price of renting has seeped into some of Ireland’s other cities, like Cork and Galway, where rents rose by 12% and 16%.

Limerick and Waterford’s rental prices both soared by more than 17%.

We hear from Rebecca, a 32-year-old working in the tech sector in Dublin, who has been renting for 10 years. She says that renting in Dublin is getting harder.

Alex is 31 and works in banking. He got a job in Dublin in January 2022 and was worried about moving there because he heard about the housing horror stories.

And finally, Norman Shapiro, senior mortgage broker with First Israel Mortgages, gives us the view from Israel, where house prices have hit a record 20% year-on-year increase.

Presenter/producer: Leanna Byrne (Image: Houses/ Getty Images)

Children aren’t cheap. The cost of living crisis is pushing parents to the edge of their finances, worrying about paying for essentials like food, clothing and, for many, childcare.

We’ll take a look at Chile, which according to data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is one of the lowest ranking when it comes to public spending on early childhood education.

Natalia Aránguiz lives in Chile and has two children- she speaks to Leanna Byrne about her rising costs.

Ann Hedgepeth, chief of policy and advocacy at non-profit organisation Child Care Aware of America, says the national average price of childcare was around $10,600 per year. She says one of the main factors is getting the right staff.

Seven thousand miles away in Kampala in Uganda, one childcare business owner is facing the same issues. Manuela Mulondo is chief executive and founder of Cradle, a childcare, lactation and education centre. She says people never think about childcare companies when they are talking about price rises, but says it’s very expensive to look after children.

Presenter/producer: Leanna Byrne (Image: Child and parent. Credit: PA)

In this first episode of our second series on the cost of living, Business Daily's Leanna Byrne looks into the areas of our lives that are costing us the most.

Today we focus on our public transport systems. Figures from Statista, a market and consumer data platform, puts Auckland, New Zeland as the third most expensive city for public transport, we hear from Jon Reeves who is National Co-Ordinator and Co-Founder of the Public Transport Users Association there.

When the cost of living rises, it rises for everyone. So those working in the transport sector want pay rises to reflect that. Anna Jane Hunter, partner at Winder Phillips Associates, tells Business Daily that there’s a lot of systemic issues in the UK’s transport sector that have only just bubbled to the surface again after two years of us staying at home and not using public transport.

We speak to Gregor Kolbe, who works on transport and consumer politics for the Federation of German Consumer Organisations. Over the summer, Germany encouraged people to use public transport by actually reducing the cost of transport. But prices are back to normal levels now.

Presenter/producer: Leanna Byrne Image: Passengers at Kings Cross Station in London/ Credit: EPA

In 2022, the sale of vinyl records in the UK made more money than CDs. You might think of it as an old fashioned way to listen to music, especially with the dominance of streaming services, but in the last 12 months, artists like Beyonce, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift have all put out major releases on vinyl. So how is the record industry coping with the increased demand?

David Harper visits one of the biggest pressing plants in the world, GZ Media, which is based in the Czech Republic. Company CEO Michal Štěrba tells David that the business model is very different to when he started. He says demand started to grow in around 2003 when some other factories closed, but it hasn't stopped growing.

David speaks to a Japanese record store about why younger people seem to be buying so much vinyl. And we hear from Kenyan film maker and musician Maia Lekow. She records on vinyl but can't find anywhere in Kenya to press the vinyl itself - she's ended up doing it in Australia.

Some smaller independent labels tell us they're struggling to get records pressed. Andy Black owns the Popty Ping Recording company in Wales and says there's now a delay and they need to plan a lot more in advance, which can be hard when bands want to release new music.

Presenter: David Harper Producers: David Harper and Victoria Hastings

(Photo: GZ Media pressing plant. Credit: David Harper)

Over a million people in Spain are thought to have long Covid. In this episode of Business Daily Ashish Sharma finds out how the condition is affecting working lives and the wider economy. He also examines the long Covid research projects being undertaken in Spain and how they're funded.

Long Covid patients Blanca Helga and Maria Angeles discuss their symptoms and the work they're lost since having the condition. Beatriz Fernandez, who herself has long Covid, tells Ashish about a long Covid platform and support group she runs and what she's learnt from it.

Maria Jesus Arranz, a geneticist who runs the long Covid research programme at the University Hospital Mutua Terrassa tells us about her work and Carlos Esquivias, the head of Life & Pensions at the Spanish Association of Insurers, UNESPA, tells us how long Covid and Covid in general continues to impact the Spanish economy.

Producer / presenter: Ashish Sharma Image: Blanca Helga; Credit: Blanca Helga

Billions of disposable nappies, or diapers, are produced every year and sales are booming. Most go to landfill, some pollute rivers and oceans and a baby can get through 4,000-6,000 nappies by the time they are potty trained.

New dad and Business Daily presenter Rick Kelsey looks into whether the available alternatives to disposable nappies are as cheap or convenient for parents. We hear from with nappy innovators Jason and Kim Graham-Nye in Indonesia, who’ve been in the market for 20 years, about how the alternative industry has changed.

The City of Brussels in Belgium is planning to introduce washable, and therefore reusable, nappies in all 40 of its municipal daycare centres by 2026. Arnaud Pinxteren who is leading the scheme tells us how it works. Meanwhile Larissa Copello, who works on the nappy issue for the campaign group Zero Waste Europe, tells us how schemes like the one in Brussels could be scaled up.

Presenter/producer: Rick Kelsey

(Photo: Nappy change. Credit: Getty Images)

At 12.4%, India has the highest percentage of female pilots in the world. In this episode, Olivia Wilson speaks to female pilots and industry experts to find out why India is leading the way and why other countries are so far behind.

We hear about the achievements of Indian commercial airline pilots, Captain Hana Mohsin Khan and Captain Zoya Agarwal, who became the youngest female pilot to fly a Boeing 777 in 2013 and landed a record-breaking flight over the North Pole on the world's longest air route in 2021.

Michele Halleran, a trained pilot and professor at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in the US, explains the financial and cultural barriers that are in play. Kara Hatzai, the vice president at the International Society of Women Airline Pilots, who provide financial support for women training as pilots, tells us how a scholarship kickstarted her career in the male dominated industry.

Presenter/producer: Olivia Wilson

(Photo: Zoya Agarwal. Credit: Zoya Agarwal)

The new president of the United Nations International Fund for Agricultural Development, Alvaro Lario tells us why the pandemic, war in Ukraine and climate change have created a perfect storm for global food security and what can be done about that.

The BBC’s Frey Lindsay hears from people around the world who are dealing with the food crisis. Alvaro Lario explains how food shortages often begin with smallholder farmers. The failure of their crops and livestock means farmers are often left struggling to feed themselves and this then affects entire communities. Lario also discusses his vision for how private finance and multilateral institutions can team up and to avert the worst in the coming 12 months.

Producer/presenter: Frey Lindsay

(Image: Farming fields. Credit: Getty Images)

Small businesses create nearly two-thirds of new jobs in the workforce and account for 44% of US economic activity. So what's the secret to their success? What challenges do they face and which are the best cities and regions for them to thrive?

Samira Hussain visits the city of Nashville in Tennessee, which is a hotbed of new businesses and start ups - there are reportedly four out of every 1000 Nashville residents are CEOs.

Samira meets James Davenport and Mike Hinds, co-founders of the Nashville Barrel company who launched their whiskey company in the city in February 2020. She goes to a business ‘mixer’ where CEO of the Nashville Entrepreneur Center, Jane Allen, gives an overview of Nashville’s appeal.

Tennessee has very low taxes which can encourage new business to the area - Bradley Jackson, president and CEO of the Tennessee Chamber of Commerce and Industry tells Samira how the approach works alongside other incentives.

But what does this mean for the people living there? The state has one of the highest sales taxes in the country. That means everything you buy at the store costs more. Samira speaks to Dick Williams, board member of Tennesseans for Fair Taxation, who says this kind of tax scheme ends up hurting the most vulnerable people.

Presented and produced by Samira Hussain Additional production: Rob Cave

(Image: The lights on Broadway in Nashville. Credit: Getty Images)