How to Invest in People

[Monirul Islam]

In an investment context, one of the primary skills of successful venture capital investors involves the ability to discern how to invest in people to produce future profits. What investing in people means to such venture capitalists is identifying a talented and motivated individual or team that has the strong potential to take their company to new heights of success. Such people are generally inwardly driven to pursue excellence, and that special quality gives them a higher chance of having a positive impact on their firm's bottom line.

If this anticipated increase in profits materializes, it will in turn spur growth in the value of an initial investment in their venture, thereby making the venture capitalist a handsome return on their invested funds. Of course, the challenge here involves correctly identifying such individuals at a sufficiently early stage to make the investment worthwhile.

A considerably more personalmethod of how to invest in people involves investing your funds directly in a specific individual's future, rather than in a company they are working for. Such an investment is typically a private arrangement that might often take the form of a loan made to the individual by the investor over a given term with interest and principal payments expected.

Furthermore, in recent years, some enterprising individuals have reportedly been soliciting substantial upfront payments from investors in exchange for a modest percentage of their future income. Such an investment proposal would offer an investor a return more like a stock on their investment in that particular person.

Alternatively, from a business or personnel manager's perspective, how to invest in people probably refers to the choices that the leadership of their company makes when it comes to furthering the abilities and improving the job satisfaction of its valued staff. Taken in this context, investing in people usually involves such things as employee recruitment and training, compensation, lifestyle accommodation, workplace enhancement and offering attractive perks.

Source: http://www.businessdictionary.com/article/776/how-to-invest-in-people/