{"id":22174,"date":"2023-03-23T05:00:32","date_gmt":"2023-03-23T05:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/?p=22174"},"modified":"2023-03-23T09:46:21","modified_gmt":"2023-03-23T09:46:21","slug":"nick-batey-marksspencer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2023\/03\/23\/nick-batey-marksspencer\/","title":{"rendered":"7 questions with &#8230; Nick Batey"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- VideographyWP Plugin Message: Automatic video embedding prevented by plugin options. --><br \/>\n<span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Nick Batey is the general manager, Mena region, of British food and clothes retailer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.marksandspencer.com\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Marks &amp; Spencer<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\"><em>ME Retail News<\/em> finds out what advice he would give his 13-year-old self, the best way to start his day, and his greatest achievement . . .\u00a0 so far.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is the best way to start your day?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I wake up early and start my day by catching up on the news on my phone, so I\u2019m up to speed in both the GCC and the UK. I then get ready and travel to the office. We\u2019re very lucky to have an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/2022\/12\/27\/ms-launches-store-in-sharjah\/\">M&amp;S<\/a> Caf\u00e9 under our office, so I pick up a coffee and fresh fruit for breakfast.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If you could be any character from a movie, who would you be?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Batman, because he is a philanthropist and dedicated his life to improving things for people with an investment in technology, as well as bringing people together through the Justice League.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What is your greatest achievement?<\/span><\/strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">The expansion and development of the M&amp;S business in Mena as part of the Al Futtaim Group have been a huge achievement for me over the past seven years, almost doubling the size of the stores in the region. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">It\u2019s been amazing to play a part in the acceleration of such an iconic British brand to our customers here and also listen to their feedback and develop ranges for them. Look out for our new Ramadan collection designed for Middle Eastern customers.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What advice would you give your 13-year-old self?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Never turn down the opportunity to learn a new skill or to travel. In fact, I think travel is one of the best forms of education in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">If you had 24 hours left on Earth, what would you do?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I\u2019d want to spend it with loved ones enjoying good food and nature, plus take the time to reflect on everything I\u2019ve achieved and talk to those I couldn\u2019t be with.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Who or what is your biggest inspiration?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">Queen Elizabeth II, because unwavering service and duty that she gave are inspiring. Alongside this, the amount of evolutionary change that took place during her reign and how she continued to hold on to consistent values throughout is remarkable.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">What would you like to achieve in the next 10 years?\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-preserver-spaces=\"true\">I want to keep learning, keep travelling and having new experiences and ensure to keep perspective above all.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> Marks &#038; Spencer manager for Mena, Nick Batey, shares his greatest achievements with MeRetailNews<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":22129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3937],"tags":[201],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22174"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22174"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22398,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22174\/revisions\/22398"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.meretailnews.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}