GIA India Launches ‘Business Excellence Series’ for Alumni

The Gemological Institute of America (GIA) recognizes that its graduates – who number more than 70,000 active members worldwide – are a vital component in the Institute’s efforts to increase gemological education and set professional standards for the entire gem and jewelry industry.

GIA India has launched a “Business Excellence Series” for its alumni to help achieve that goal. GIA President and CEO Donna Baker, with Managing Director (India and the Middle East) Nirupa Bhatt, made the announcement about the new program recently to more than 70 alumni who attended a recent special forum at the GIA India Laboratory.

The new Business Excellence Series will host discussions and seminars focused on providing opportunities to the alumni to network and communicate. This will help create an environment where GIA India Alumni can learn and share their experiences so they can take their careers and businesses to the next level, and encourage even greater growth in the industry.

By staying abreast of cutting-edge information and communicating it to others in the industry, GIA Alumni can help enhance consumer confidence.

“The best way to inform and educate the industry is to ensure that more of GIA’s extensive research, education and other resources are shared,” Baker said. “The Business Excellence Series forges new ways the Institute, alumni and the trade can work together to benefit everyone, including the general public.”

There are more than 2,000 GIA graduates in India – with more than 50 percent in Mumbai – the majority of which are from the gem and jewelry industry, according to Manoj Singhania, director of GIA India Education. “The Mumbai alumni chapter is very active and over the past year it has launched several initiatives to make the Mumbai alumni network even more vibrant and meaningful. We are also making concentrated efforts to energize other GIA Alumni chapters in India, such as those in Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Delhi and Jaipur.”

“We believe creating an environment for ongoing learning and sharing will lead to individual professional development, networking opportunities and solid industry growth,” Singhania said.

GIA India’s Web site address is www.giaindia.in.

About GIA:
An independent nonprofit organization, the Gemological Institute of America (GIA) is recognized as the world’s foremost authority in gemology. Established in 1931, GIA has translated its expert knowledge into the most respected gemological education available. Early in the 1950s, GIA invented the famous Four Cs of Color, Cut, Clarity and Carat Weight.  In 1953, the Institute created the International Diamond Grading Systemâ„¢ which, today, is recognized by virtually every professional jeweler in the world.

Through research, education, gemological laboratory services, and instrument development, the Institute is dedicated to ensuring the public trust in gems and jewelry by upholding the highest standards of integrity, academics, science, and professionalism. GIA can be found on the web at www.gia.edu.