A commercial and merchant banker by qualifications and training at the undergraduate level and, a development and management specialist at the postgraduate level, Norman started his career in 1978 at Standard Chartered Bank in three SADC countries at various levels before joining the Paris-based Banque International Afrique Occidential (BIAO) as their Senior Operations Manager in 1988.

Having studied, lived, and worked in the USA as a Thomas Jefferson and African American Institute (AAI) fellow, over the years Norman has also been assigned as a consultant to various developmental organizations in Latin America & Caribbean countries, as well as South-East Asia and his home continent Africa where he has his greatest passion and most memorable experiences. Because of his experience, he has also served in a variety of advisory and board positions focusing on economic empowerment initiatives and financial regulatory issues in South Africa and sub-regional countries.

Because of his country's experience, he was recruited by USAID to direct and manage a Chemonics SMME initiative in Eswatini in 1994. In 2000, after the devastating floods in Mozambique, where he worked as a volunteer, Norman was head-hunted by World Relief International to set up their microfinance organization, Fundo Credito Communitarion (FCC) in five of Mozambique's northern and southern provinces. In 2003, while on assignment in Malawi, Norman was recruited as the CEO of Shared Interest's Guarantee Fund subsidiary, the Thembani International Guarantee Fund (TIGF), a position he held until 2015. After a stint as Washington, DC-headquartered Grameen Foundation's Africa Regional CEO, Norman returned to South Africa to manage and direct his consultancy firm Umhlaba Business Solutions (Pty) Limited. More recently Norman served as the Global Business Roundtable's (GBR) Global Executive Director before leaving to focus on his consulting company's contractual obligations to New York-based Shared Interest.