Ingvar Kamprad - Founder of IKEA

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Hi friends, I hope you are well and that you had a good relaxing and serene weekend?
I learned yesterday in the news that Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA and the kit furniture concept, died at the age of 91.

Many people paid tribute to him, even the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, praised a unique entrepreneur who was inspired by his enormous commitment to the international as well as to the Swedish campaigns.

Even King Carl XVI Gustav of Sweden praised a true entrepreneur, who through the work of his life, Ikea, helped to make Sweden known throughout the world.

The boss of the biggest trade union organization added that he was the biggest entrepreneur in Sweden.

Thanks to its creation, it has enabled 150,000 people around the world to have a job and we find in almost all houses on almost every continent objects or furniture from IKEA.

It also allowed to learn a few words in Swedish since they were registered on all its products.
According to his relatives, Ingvar Kamprad had been preparing his succession since 1976.

For the moment, little has filtered, except that it should not include his three sons, nor his daughter, who had had a previous wedding.

History

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Ingvar Feodor Kamprad was born on March 30, 1926 in Pjätteryd, Sweden and died on January 28, 2018 in Smaland, Sweden (smaland which is also the name of his nursery for children at the entrance of the store, my children love to go there, it is a wonderful world and adapted to their small size).

He made his fortune by creating the Ikea chain of stores in 1943. Ikea is the acronym for Ingvar Kamprad, the family farm Elmtaryd, and the name of his native village Agunnaryd.

In 2010, he is 11th in the ranking of the richest men on the planet.

In 1926 Ingvar Kamprad was born in Småland, a poor region of Sweden. During his youth, he sells matches, then Christmas decorations.

Then, he starts selling seeds, thanks to that, he was able to buy his first bicycle.

In 1943, he created Ikea. Initially, the company sells pens, small leather goods, picture frames, tablecloths, jewelery and nylon stockings by door to door. In 1945, she diversified into mail order catalog sales. In 1947, the catalog adds furniture.

In 1951, the company devoted itself exclusively to the sale of furniture. In 1953, it's the opening of a first store.
In 1955, to respond to the pressure exerted on its suppliers by its competitors, the company develops its first furniture. He decides to develop products according to the FFF motto, that is to say the functionality, the form and the ease of being produced.
In 1956, the formula that will make the trademark of the company appears: the furniture is delivered in flat packs and are mounted by the buyer.
In 1963, Norway saw the establishment of the first Ikea store outside Sweden.

According to a magazine in 2007, Ingvar Kamprad is the fourth richest man in the world, with a fortune estimated at 33 billion dollars.

In 2015, Ingvar Kamprad paid for his first tax in Sweden for 40 years. He had left Sweden in 1973 to escape the country's tax system.

In 1973, he created a foundation to support young people, especially in the design sector.
Each year, it offers a large sum of money to provide scholarships for training.

In 2006, he donated half a million Swiss francs to the Lausanne Cantonal School of Art to build an amphitheater.

Prosecution of Nazi sympathies

Some sources say that in his youth, Kamprad was a member of the Jeunesses nordiques, the Swedish equivalent of the Hitler Youth. Indeed, his father and grandmother had a boundless admiration for Adolf Hitler, an admiration undoubtedly shared by young Ingvar.

He recently said he does not remember if he was an official member of this organization.

In 1994, the press revealed his commitment and lasting relationship with Per Engdahl, leader of the pro-Nazi movement in Sweden. In a letter addressed to his employees, Ingvar Kamprad assumed his past, blamed on a youthful mistake and apologized to his employees.

A Swedish newspaper then claimed that Ikea had started with money brought in by Nazis. Kamprad firmly denied.

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Before I heard the news of his death last night, I did not know who Ikea's founder was and you?