George Basil Zochonis (c. 1852–1929) was a Greek businessman, who was a founder of

PZ Cussons PZ Cussons plc is a major British manufacturer of personal healthcare products and consumer goods. It operates worldwide, especially in nations in Africa and the Commonwealth. The company is listed on the London Stock Exchange. History Pa ...

, one of the

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's largest personal health care and consumer goods manufacturing businesses.

Career

Brought up in

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, George Zochonis initially joined the trading house of ''Fisher & Randall'' in

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Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

.Paterson Zochonis: History
In 1879, together with George Paterson, he founded Paterson Zochonis and built it into a large trading house. It imported West African goods ( palm products,

nut Nut often refers to: * Nut (fruit), fruit composed of a hard shell and a seed * Nut (food), a dry and edible fruit or seed, including but not limited to true nuts * Nut (hardware), fastener used with a bolt Nut, NUT or Nuts may also refer to: A ...

s etc.) into the

and then exported them to

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. It also exported

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goods (

textiles Textile is an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term that includes various Fiber, fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, Staple (textiles)#Filament fiber, filaments, Thread (yarn), threads, and different types of #Fabric, fabric. ...

etc.) to West Africa. He died in 1929. After his death control of the business passed to Constantine Zochonis, his

nephew In the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a niece or nephew is a child of an individual's sibling or sibling-in-law. A niece is female and a nephew is male, and they would call their parents' siblings aunt or uncle ...

, and then more recently, to John Zochonis (Constantine's

son A son is a male offspring; a boy or a man in relation to his parents. The female counterpart is a daughter. From a biological perspective, a son constitutes a first degree relative. Social issues In pre-industrial societies and some current ...

).Sir John Zochonis
Manchester Evening News, 9 May 2006

References

1850s births 1929 deaths 19th-century Greek businesspeople

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