What types of special assignments or projects could be developed to enhance the business and develop your people at the same time?

The MANAGEMENT TRAINEE concept is still best.

Training your people and involving them in what ever they can be involved in is the mantra. Effective training can make them more knowledgeable and capable and contribute more. Involving them in various organizational tasks and brain storming sessions can facilitate their development and also enable them to contribute more for their organization. 

Combining business and people only means enhancing team approach in the work place. Look for the weak links and the areas that hinder communication, trust and cooperation between colleagues and work on these weaknesses. this can be through many techniques, naming some: Team incentives/reward, labeling teams and recognizing high team performance, enhance social activities and dialogue, general group training sessions assist in developing work relationships, re-engineering of the work method and procedures through collective brain storming sessions or rewarding new ideas...and so on and so forth.

Time Managment

In my oint of view the most area need to improved to easer the work, increase productivity, decrease time spent.