About

Headquartered in Cali, Manuelita is a leading Colombian agribusiness company selling ethanol, palm oil, biodiesel, mussels, shrimp and a variety of fruits and vegetables. In business since 1864, the company owns some of the most significant agricultural assets in the country, namely Manuelita Azúcar y Energía, Colombia’s oldest sugar mill, Manuelita Aceites y Energía, an African palm oil company based in Bogotá and Océanos, the world’s largest contiguous shrimp farm. Manuelita’s illustrious legal department serves as a shield to the company’s varied activities across Colombia, Peru, Chile and Brazil and directs and coordinates the legal strategy of the company across its various business units. To effectively advise management on all civil, mercantile, administrative and agrarian matters the team has to keep up-to-date with all operational level developments across the business and the larger agricultural sector. The team has been at the centre of Manuelita’s international expansion across Latin America in recent years, as well as the growth of its cogeneration capacity using biomass in Colombia and Brazil, with the company recently investing COP $58bn in its Valle del Cauca mill. The team features Norma Constanza Arbelaez Herrera a lawyer known for her expertise in strategic planning and coordinating judicial processes nationally and abroad. Arbelaez has been with Manuelita for 15 years.