Without trying to dress anything up, what we want is to invest in business opportunities that we can understand, help to build, and when properly established will produce an income stream for a period of a few years without needing much tinkering with. Obviously, the payback we are looking for is quite a bit more than we would get in a "static" investment like a deposit account or from a property.

As we will probably be providing a substantial percentage of the finance and fair bit of the resources and effort in the early-days, we need some kind of security. Depending on the investment amount, we are probably looking for an equity stake in the business, directorship presence and controls on the cheque-book. The exact profile will vary depending upon circumstances.