Business

Mejuri’s success: Noura Sakkijha’s take on jewellery 

From earrings to bracelets, the Toronto-based company is rethinking luxury.


Mejuri is on a mission to redefine jewellery. The brand’s CEO and co-founder, Noura Sakkijha, has been around jewellery her whole life. While living in Jordan with her family, Sakkijha’s father worked multiple hours per week as a jeweller. He followed in his father’s footsteps. Sakkijha wouldn’t enter the jewellery space until 2015. She studied industrial engineering at the University of Jordan before pursuing a Master’s in Business Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU). She also worked full-time at CIBC before launching Mejuri. She believes that working a corporate job helped her gain the experience necessary to transition into running her own business. 

Going to TMU helped with start-up costs as Sakkijha entered and won the Slaight Business Plan Competition. The competition awards $25,000 to one female and one male winner. After graduation, she also got accepted into Digital Media Zone (DMZ). DMZ is a startup accelerator that helps tech startups. Through DMZ, Sakkijha gained access to mentors and resources. At that time, Mejuri was a website that allowed customers to vote for which custom jewellery design they would want to buy. The jewellery was made in Jordan. (Watch Sakkijha pitch her business idea in 2013!)

Around 2016, Sakkijha had raised $1 million to help finance her business. In 2019, she and co-founder (and husband) Majed Masad raised $23 million while she was seven months pregnant with twin girls.  

Sakkijha is focused on building a brand that allows everyone, especially women, to buy fine jewellery for themselves. The brand is keen on making luxury jewellery that people can buy themselves without waiting for it to be gifted to them. Product pricing is also important to Sakkijha as she wants “the purchase to come without guilt.” Although she and Masad had millennial women in mind while creating the brand, Mejuri’s jewellery has attracted the interest of many others.  

Sakkijha tries to have a sustainable brand. Her company’s website shows where materials for Mejuri jewellery are sourced from. Mejuri uses recycled gold and silver to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. There is no difference in the quality of newly mined and recycled gold. Mejuri has also ventured into lab-grown gems. These gems are “traceable from start to finish, climate neutral, responsibly, and ethically produced.”  

Mejuri has also started using vermeil (sterling silver coated in gold). Gold vermeil helps the brand stick to its goal of selling affordable jewellery. Mejuri’s gold vermeil pieces are “not to be confused with regular gold plating,” says the brand’s website. “Our vermeil is a thick layer of 18k solid gold on sterling silver, meaning it will last longer. You get the look & feel of gold jewelry at a fraction of the price.” 

Mejuri drops new products each week in limited quantities and only increases stock if there is a demand for a product. They also have a section for last-chance jewellery.

Mejuri’s success is visible. The brand has six physical store locations in Canada, three across the U.K., 25 across the U.S., and two coming soon to Massachusetts in the U.S. and Australia. A lot of celebrities like Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift and Reneé Rapp have been seen in pieces from the brand. The Mejuri team has grown to over 500 employees across the headquarters and retail stores, and the brand has also expanded to include men’s jewellery.  

You can check out the brand at mejuri.com.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *