During the coronavirus pandemic governments around the world pumped billions into their economies. Propping up businesses and trying to make sure people stayed in work.

Sam Fenwick looks into what actually happened to all that money and whether it really did help keep businesses afloat during repeated lockdowns and restrictions.

Nick Hood is an business insolvency expert with a company called Opus Restructuring – he helped us interrogate data held by all the major world economies on insolvencies.

Sam also speaks to a business owner who was forced to close and declare bankruptcy during the pandemic despite financial help and another who was able to restructure and expand thanks to a government scheme.

Presenter / Producer: Sam Fenwick Image: Closed sign; Credit: Getty

More than ever girls are bombarded by images that have been curated, filtered and touched up. How can we help girls decode those images and understand that ideals of beauty are constructed by society and change across time and place?

Shelina Janmohamed is an author and advertising executive. Her latest book is designed to help girls aged eight and above build confidence in how they look and show them why what appears to be beautiful isn't as straight forward as it seems.

Shelina tells presenter Rabiya Limbada why her career in advertising led her to write this book and why helping girls become more savvy consumers is good for business. Rabiya also speaks to six girls - Hanaa, Haleemah, Helen, Hana, Sophia and Amatullah - about what they think beautiful is, their experience of filtered images and how confident they feel about how they look.

Presenter: Rabiya Limbada Producer: Carmel O'Grady Image: Girl looking at make up; Credit: Getty

Finance has traditionally been dominated by men. But now that’s starting to change. We talk to the female entrepreneurs in Africa who are using financial technology to give more people access to money and services - through apps, payment platforms and chatbots.

Odunayo Eweniyi is the co-founder of Piggyvest in Nigeria, the first ever online app for personal savings and investment in West Africa. She tells us how she came up with the idea and how she’s using FirstCheck Africa, an angel fund for women entrepreneurs, to help others.

Jihan Abass, the founder and CEO of Griffin insurance, Kenya’s first digital-only car insurance company, tells us about her ambitious plans to expand. Ethel Cofie, the boss of Edel Technology Consulting, who’s been named as one of the top 5 women influencing technology in Africa, gives her advice to women starting out in tech. She’s set up a support network, Women in Tech Africa.

We also visit a coding bootcamp for young women in Ghana, called Developers in Vogue. Its founder, Ivy Barley, tells us why she set it up and we hear from the students about the difference it’s made to their lives.

Presenter and producer: Jo Critcher

(Picture: Students at Developers in Vogue coding bootcamp in Ghana; Credit: Developers in Vogue)

Spain's top division La Liga has signed a record investment deal with CVC Capital Partners. Ashish Sharma looks at the terms of the deal - which means CVC invests into a new company that will hold LaLiga’s commercial rights. CVC will hold an 8% stake in the business for the next 50 years.

Ashish Sharma speaks some of the leading figures in the top tier of Spanish football´s La Liga, including Ramon Rubiales the CEO of Real Betis. With the money that his club will receive, Rubiales explains how he plans to rejuvenate the club´s stadium and invest in building restaurants, a hotel and other leisure facilities that will help the club raise more revenues.

Presenter / Producer: Ashish Sharma Image: Benito Villamarin Stadium of Real Betis, Real Betis Sevilla v FC Barcelona, May 7, 2022; Credit: Getty Images

Ally Salama’s company makes content that aims to improve mental health awareness in the Middle East – he’s experienced clinical depression himself.

The podcast Ally presents – Empathy always wins - has had millions of downloads and EMPWR is valued at more than a million dollars.

In this episode of Million by 30, Felicity Hannah asks Ally how his own experiences helped him develop his business model, how he operates as an employer and for his advice to anyone else looking to get into podcasting or start a media company.

Presenter: Felicity Hannah Producer: Rory Claydon

Image; Ally Salama: Credit; Ally Salama

Rahul Tandon looks at changing attitudes to defence spending following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There have been new funding commitments from countries like Germany, while Sweden and Finland now want to join NATO, but what's the true cost? We speak to Estonia's defence minister Kalle Laanet about his country's growing military budget, and German member of the European Parliament Viola Von Cramon Taubadel on her country's decision to spend more. Dr Diego Lopes Da Silva, a researcher with the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, says global spending reached a record level of $2 trillion in 2021, before the invasion of Ukraine. Steven Zaloga, a military analyst at the Teal Group, explains the role of cutting edge drone technology, and Allison Pytlak from the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom discusses the human cost of conflict. Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: James Graham Photo: Ammunition in a shopping trolley (Credit: Getty Images)

The lure of making a quick buck means young people have always invested in risky assets. For Generation Z, it is the volatility and the decentralised nature of digital assets such as cryptocurrency and NFTs which is so attractive. They are unregulated, meaning there is no investor protection. Some experts warn that trading them should be categorised as gambling.

Mariko Oi hears from young people who have lost vast sums of money trading in digital assets, Resh Chandran who describes himself as a financial educator offering training in conventional stocks, cryptocurrency and NFT trading in Singapore, and Brian Jung. Brian is an investor, entrepreneur, and influencer. He is best known for his personal finance, credit card, and crypto YouTube channel which boasts one million followers, but compared to other influencers, he is known to talk more cautiously about risks and danger.

Presenter: Mariko Oi Producer: AnneMarie Parnell (Photo: Brian Jung. Credit: Brian Jung

Samira Hussain takes you to Puerto Rico. Back to back hurricanes 5 years ago shattered the island's electricity grid, leading to the longest blackout in American history. Residents are still trying to claw their way out of the darkness.

But one Puerto Rican town, in the island's mountainous region, may have found a solution. Arturo Massol Deya is the associate director of Casa Pueblo, he tells us how he's using solar panels to ensure a reliable supply of electricity to his local community.

We also hear from Wayne Stensby, CEO of Luma Energy. Last year, the transmission and distribution of electricity in Puerto Rico was privatised and handed to Wayne and his team. He tells us the whole system needs a lot of regeneration and investment.

Presenter / Producer: Samira Hussain

Image: Arturo Massol Deya; Credit; Andrew Herbert BBC

In the first episode of our new strand - Business Daily Meets - we hear from Estonia’s first billionaire, Kristo Käärmann.

In this in-depth interview the TransferWise (now Wise) co-founder and CEO explains how a €500 loss led to the creation of a multi-billion dollar business.

He tells us about creating something from nothing, keeping his ego in check, and insists saving customers $1 billion a year is only the start of the journey.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: Sam Clack

Image: Kristo Käärmann; Credit: Jake Farra/Wise

In this series you will hear from six people from all over the world who’ve hit that million milestone before their 30th birthday. Our second guest is Iseult Ward from Ireland, who tells Sam Fenwick how she started building her social enterprise FoodCloud while still at university in Dublin. Iseult and her team make more than a million meals every month from food that would otherwise end up in the bin. Hear how she started out working with small market traders, scaled up to work with huge multi-nationals in multiple countries and how she deals with imposter syndrome. Presenter: Sam Fenwick Producer: Helen Thomas (Photo: Iseult Ward. Credit: Getty Images)

In today’s episode of Business Daily we’ll see how Eurovision goes so much further than the stage.

We head to this year’s host city, Turin in Italy, to see whether there’s a been boost in local business there.

We hear from Ochman who's representing Poland, on how his career has changed since becoming an act, and from Emmelie De Forest who represented Denmark in 2013, who says the competition was both a "blessing, and a curse".

Dr Filippos Filippidis, from Imperial College London, tells us about the positive effect that Eurovision can have on a country's mental health. And Dr Adrian Kavanagh from Maynooth University in Ireland, talks about the economic impact of hosting.

We also speak to one of the competition’s most famous former presenters, Danish actor Pilou Asbaek.

Presenter/producer: Izzy Greenfield Image: Getty (Description: Eurovision song contest logo 2022)

How does day-to-day survival work in a war when cash and food are in short supply? Rahul Tandon speaks to a woman in Russian-occupied Kherson where the rouble has just been introduced as an official currency. He also hears from Zaporizhzhia entrepreneur Vitali Ivakhov about how he's keeping his businesses going, and paying wages.

A survivor of Mariupol explains how day-to-day life continued during the siege, and Bosnian journalist Aida Cerkez talks about her personal experience of the siege of Sarajevo - the longest in modern times.

Former Ukrainian finance minister Natalie Jaresko tells us about the crucial role digital payments have played, and how frozen Russian assets must be used to help pay for the rebuilding of Ukraine.

Presenter: Rahul Tandon Producer: James Graham Photo: Five hryvnia notes (Credit: Getty Images)