Success Story: Italy’s Sofidel Expands U.S. Presence with New Oklahoma Manufacturing Plant

In 2017, Rogers County, Oklahoma secured a $1.5 million EDA investment to help attract Sofidel, an Italian company, into the city of Inola. Today, Sofidel, the second-largest tissue paper manufacturer in Europe, and sixth largest worldwide, has started building its new, integrated paper production plant in Inola, just 30 miles east of Tulsa. The new plant will combine sustainability and technological innovation, housing two tissue technology machines for a total output of 120,000 metric tons a year. The project is expected to create 250 jobs and generate $360 million in private investment.

To help bring this opportunity to the region, a partnership of local governments, the State of Oklahoma, and two EDA designated Economic Development Districts (EDDs) - the Indian Nations Council of Governments and the Grand Gateway Economic Development Association - worked together to develop the industrial site that brought the company and others to the area.

This project is a great example of how FDI can help create new jobs in a rural region.