Amina Okpukpara
Amina Okpukpara is a jewelry industry practitioner, researcher, consultant, and thought leader in the gemstone and jewelry sector. A GIA-certified Gemologist, and Principal Director of the vertically integrated social brand, Mina Stones. She attended Covenant University in Nigeria where she graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in Engineering and went to further her studies at Lancaster University, in the UK where she obtained an MSc. in Business and Innovation. During and after her master’s program, she proceeded to pursue her passion for gemstones and Jewlery with GIA obtaining a Jewelry Diploma and eventually her Graduate Gemmologist Certificate.
Okpukpara is actively involved with both Government and Non-Governmental Organizations to support projects that aim to develop the gemstone and jewelry industry as well as improve the livelihood of people along the supply chain. She is an advocate for the African Gemstone and Jewelry Industry and the co-founder of the African Gemstone & Jewlery Exhibition and Seminar (AGJES). A member of the Society of Women Engineers, Technologists, and Scientists (SWETS) Africa where she is actively involved in mentorship and community service. She is on the advisory board of Black in Jewelry Coalition (BIJC) and a member of the Women’s Jewelry Association (WJA) international board where she also serves as a mentor.
Mina Stones, based in the Nigeria, West Africa and in the US, is a gemstone and jewelry social enterprise that has a vertically integrated structure, this means that we are involved in all aspects of the mining value chain, we work and source directly from Artisanal and Small-Scale Miners (ASM) and produce custom made pieces for socially conscious customers. Giving all people along our gemstones and jewelry chain visibility and fairness.
Mina Okpukpara
