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Nurettin Acar he does not know exactly when he was born. “In my documentation it says that it was in 1966, but I was born in a nomad family that he could neither read nor write. So when someone was born, the date was not remembered because it was not something important. We were just glad to add a new member to the family and that’s it ”, he explains, with a smile from ear to ear, the new CEO the Ikea and Spain. What you do know Nurettin is that he was born in Beytussebap, a forested and mountainous district located to the southeast from Turkey, very close to the borders of Iraq, Syria e Iran. However, at that time he also did not have a place of habitual residence.
The family of Nurettin Acar, very prolific, it was nomadic and, continually, he moved in search of the best pastures for the animals who had – and cared for – his dad and in search of the best food that collected his mother. “On summer, my parents worked more. My father cut the grass and prepared the food for the animals and my mother gathered everything necessary for the subsistence of the family during the winter, which was very hard, “explains the newly appointed CEO of Ikea Spain. And it is that the parents of Nurettin Acar they had many mouths to feed, because the senior position of the multinational Swedish have six brothers and two sisters, “Although unfortunately one died”, regrets Opens in conversation with EL ESPAÑOL.
Be that as it may, the story of Nurettin Acar it has been the most diverse and international. And languages have been fundamental in the escalation of that kid that grew deep in the mountains of eastern Turkey to be the highest authority of Ikea in this country. Nurettin Acar, in this sense, speak German, English, French, kurdo and Turkish and is currently learning español. But, perhaps, what has really determined his work success has been the feeling of corporatism and camaraderie that his nomadic tribe since his most tender years.
Example image of the nomadic community you grew up in and the type of store you lived in.
“The life, in the region where I grew up, is closely related to the nature. There were many kids and families helping each other. For example, kids we helped each other and taught each other things like making our own toys. We did it with things from nature like stones or wood. We lent everything to each other and were fully integrated with the nature and with the society in which we lived ”, recalls the manager. The teamwork you learned Nurettin as a child, in this sense, it has always been a hallmark of Ikea. For this reason, this professional has risen in the multinational to the highest position in Spain, in which it replaces Petra Axdorff, the former CEO of the company in this country.
Nurettin, selling rugs
The continuous ups and downs of the life of the Acar family they led them to By, a city of It is from Turkey and located at 326 kilometers of the birthplace of Nurettin. There, before the shores of the lake of By, the largest in the country, the new CEO of Ikea he would start his studies in primary and high school. Era 1976 and the young man Nurettin not only did he dedicate himself to studying at school – which would end in 1987– but has already had his first contacts with the world of work and commerce.
Exterior of the family-friendly carpet store that he opened with his father in Antalya, Turkey.
With 11 years, Nurettin helped sell rugs in a store and already in that small company, the boy was climbing until, with 20 yearsTogether with his father, he decided to start his own business. But it was in the city of Antalya, To over 1,800 kilometers from By, where the Acar family raised his own carpet laying. “You just need trust and love and you already speak two languages. This is our moment, ”his father told him. Said and done. Get to work and work.
“Later, in 1991, I moved to Ankara -the capital of Turkey– to study Literature on the Ankara University, but I did not finish my degree because I had the opportunity to emigrate to Switzerland”, The director of Ikea Spain. And it was in the Swiss country where everything changed forever. There, Nurettin Acar He returned to the fold of the activity that he does best: commerce. Thus, in 1998 he graduated in Economy by Anatolian University, which had an international cooperation program with the Berne School.
Nurettin poses in front of some rugs, a product with which he began trading.
In fact, during your stay at Switzerland, Nurettin took the opportunity to specialize in Commercial Affairs on the Ortega Business School, on Want, a municipality located in the canton of Zurich. In the Swiss country, in fact, he met his wife Anna, an opera singer of origin Hungarian and Swiss. And is that Switzerland supposed the germ, for Nurettin, of his current family and work life. There in 2001, was when the economist began his career in Ikea. Specifically, in the sales team of the multinational.
Life changing by Ikea
During three lustrums, Nurettin Acar stayed in Switzerland climbing position within Ikea. In fact, the current director of the company in Spain, went on to run the Swiss stores of Ikea Pratteln and then, Ikea Dietlikon. Until, in 2015, would come one of the great leaps that he made within the corporation: he returned to Turkey, the country that had seen him grow up as a nomad in his childhood and as a merchant and student in his youth, but everything had changed. Nothing was the same.
Nurettin Acar He was no longer a fledgling carpet merchant, but returned to the peninsula of Anatolia as deputy general manager of Ikea on Turkey. Two years later, in 2017, the senior manager was appointed chief operating officer of Ikea Turkey, a position that would hold up to 2019, the year in which it reached Spain, his last destination.
Nurettin with his entire family, gathered around his mother, in the center with a handkerchief.
—What is the key to success in your career?
“Everything I do in life, I make it mine.” I do it from the heart. I consider myself a curious person, hungry to learn new things. By developing this, I develop as a person. Above all, what has moved me forward in my professional career has been hunger to learn and never give up. Ultimately, everything I do, I make it part of me.
Spain, the country of your children
On Spain, Nurettin Acar began its journey as area director. That is, under his command were the stores of Madrid, Corunna, Asturias, Valladolid and Barakaldo, but since 2019 became a member of the steering committee of Ikea Spain. To this September 13th, the day on which it has reached the top of the Swedish company in the Spanish market.
Photo ‘selfie’ of Nurettin with part of the IKEA staff in Spain and a photo as the new CEO.
After the departure of the old CEO, Petra Axdorff, to the fruit and vegetable company Bama groups, Nurettin Acar has started to be the CEO of Ikea Spain. A family which currently has 9,000 employees in this country and 16 stores to which it would be necessary to add other different points of contact until reaching the hundred. Nevertheless, Nurettin not only do you have to be aware of the needs of this prolific family, but for a couple of years, together with his wife Anna, you must also address the needs of your two babies.
“Spain is a country that will be with me all my life because my two children son Spanish people“, reveals Nurettin while recalling the new parental and family life that he has formed with Anna having had Dara, a child of 18 months and Liya, a girl of only five. This country, in this sense, has not only meant for the new CEO of Ikea Spain the climax – until now – in his professional career, but has also meant reach the top in the familiar. “In general, my family and I love Spain. It is a very good place to live and we want to travel all over the country. We have not been able to do it due to the restrictions of the pandemic, but now we will travel more. The first destination on the list is Andalusia and, in particular, Sevilla”, Reveals to this newspaper the senior manager of Ikea.
Nurettin Acar with his wife, Anna, and their children, Dara and Liya, at their home in Madrid.
“What do you like about Spain?”
—First of all, I like Spain because the people in this country are wonderful, loving, welcoming and with great hearts. Second, the country is beautiful and different. You can go to the north, to cities in Asturias, Galicia or the Basque Country and they are very different from those in the south, such as Cádiz or Malaga. This seems exciting to me. It is a privilege for me to live here.
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Reference-www.elespanol.com