Norman Maurice Armitage


Norman Maurice Armitage is a Colombian businessman, politician, and philanthropist. He is the current mayor of Cali, the third-largest city in Colombia, and the economic hub of Southwestern Colombia.

Biography

Family

Maurice Armitage is married to Patricia Tello Dorronsoro and they have two daughters. Armitage's father was English, and his mother was from Antioquia. Armitage is also cousins with former Colombian senator and politician, Esmeralda Arboleda Cadavid.

Education and Business career

Maurice Armitage studied Law at University, and then went onto work in steel mining. He bought his first company SIDOC which he still owns. He is known for distributing the profits of the company with its employees every three months. Amirtage also owns the Ingenio del Ocidente which is an Agribusiness company whose main product is refined sugar and owns 3,000 hectares of land which is used for production. Armitage is also a shareholder of Cementos San Marcos, and is a part of the board of directors of the Cali Chamber of Commerce and Fenalco Valle.

Social Work

Armitage is well known for his philanthropy and social work in the suburbs such as Siloé. He is a firm believer in the peace process to end the armed conflict in Colombia and previously volunteered to put his foundation to use to help destroy the weapons when the demobilised. All of the companies owned by Armitage split a share of the profits with their employees every 3 months, and he also advocates paying more than the standard minimum wage to his workers.

Kidnapping

Maurice Armitage has been kidnapped twice, the first time he was taken hostage was in 2002 by the 57th Front of the FARC and was held for 2 months. In 2008 he was again kidnapped, this time by local criminal gangs and was shortly released.

Peace in Colombia

Due to his past experience of being kidnapped, Armitage became more involved in charitable causes and organisations which sought to bring peace to Colombia. Subsequently when President Juan Manuel Santos announced to the world and the Colombian people that he was holding peace talks with the FARC in Havana, Cuba, Maurice Armitage then formed part of a group of victims who travelled to Havana to take part in the peace talks and help the Government.