Studying in Tbilisi and Moscow, he launched a private career in the 1990s in Russia, involved in several investment companies that would eventually allow him to hold several portfolios in Georgia.
His political career began with his election to represent the Bolnisi Majoritarian District in Parliament in 2008 as the United National Movement's nominee.
Graduating from the Third Secondary School of Gali, he has to this day a house in the town, although it is located in the separatist republic of Abkhazia, under Russian military occupation.
Until 1995, he received a doctorate in economic science from the same institution, after which he moved to Moscow to study at the Diplomatic Academy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.
He owns two mines in Armenia, including the Agarak Copper-Molybdenum Combine, which has been accused of several environmental and labor rights violations,[7] and the Ararat Gold Refinery.
His family owns 50% of LTD Sakartvelo, itself a majority shareholder of the Rustavi 2 television channel until the European Court of Human Rights authorized the Georgian government's decision to transfer its ownership in 2019.
A report by media agency Netgazeti revealed in 2016 that Nakopia had been one of the least active members of Parliament,[14] not voting a single time since 2013 and missing key bills,[15] including the 2014 Anti-Discrimination Act[16] and that same year's ratification of the EU-Georgia Association Agreement,[17] despite his pledge to back all pro-European integration documents.
[18] In the 2016 parliamentary election, Koba Nakopia was nominated by UNM to run in another constituency, the Senaki Majoritarian District, where he faced Gaeorgian Dream's Irakli Beraia, a State Security Service official.
[33] During the 2020 parliamentary election, he backed Giuli Alasania, mother of Saakashvili, as a candidate for the Zugdidi Majoritarian District,[34] although the party eventually nominated Anzor Melia.
During that election, Prime Minister Irakli Gharibashvili campaigned for Gadelia and delivered a controversial speech threatening to block local projects in the event of a victory by Nakopia,[36] a statement that would be heavily criticized as authoritarian by civil society organizations.
At the helm of the Political Council, he has been in charge of organizing the special election for the party's chairmanship scheduled for January 2023,[41] in which he has endorsed Nika Melia for reelection.