WATCH NOW: Despite pandemic, French maker of cosmetic ingredients ramps up production in Henrico | Business News [Video]

Starting any business during the COVID-19 pandemic has been a difficult endeavor.

For a company that makes complex chemical ingredients that go into consumer products worldwide, it is an even more risky venture.

Yet the newest manufacturing addition to the White Oak Technology Park in eastern Henrico County is a testament that it can be done.

More than three years after plans to open it were first announced, the Polykon Manufacturing LLC factory in White Oak was completed in late 2019. Just as the $60 million plant was ramping up its production, the pandemic hit.

Polykon is a subsidiary of Seppic SA, which itself is a business unit of Air Liquide, a French multinational company that makes industrial gases and other ingredients for healthcare products, cosmetics and foods.

“We have had some challenges, but we have been able to overcome …