Zotos International Expansion

Ontario County Office of Economic Development

Based in Geneva, N.Y., Zotos International is a professional beauty products company that manufactures and markets a full range of hair-care, hair-texture and hair-color products. It is a wholly owned subsidiary of Shiseido, one of Japan’s largest cosmetics and beauty companies.
 
Zotos International’s plant in Geneva employs approximately 300 people, producing salon products and related packaging. In early 2009, Zotos sought financial assistance for an expansion project at its Geneva plant that would bring additional manufacturing capacity in-house, allowing the company to in-source its aerosol and plastic bottle blow-molding production facilities.
 
Project Need(s)
Zotos sought financial assistance in the form of state and local grants and loans to make the project possible.

Project Solution
In July 2009, the Ontario County Board of Supervisors, working through its Office of Economic Development, approved a $250,000 loan from the county’s Revolving Loan Fund. This loan was part of a larger financing package that included a $250,000 loan from the City of Geneva Revolving Loan Fund and a $500,000 grant from the New York State Division of Housing and Community Renewal (DHCR).
 
The assistance package helped leverage a more than $4 million investment from the company, allowing it to bring its aerosol and plastic bottle blow-molding production facilities in-house. The project is expected to create 50 new jobs over the next three years.