|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Cairman of IKEA
|
|
| Education
|
|
| Resides In
|
Sweden
|
| Born
|
30-03-1926
|
| Personal Life
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| Career
Highlights
|
|
Ingvar began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds and later ball-point pens and pencils. When Ingvar was 17, his father gave him a gift for succeeding in his studies. He used this gift to establish what has grown into IKEA.
The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name (Ingvar Kamprad) or IK plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born; and Agunnaryd, a nearby village in the province of Småland.
Ingvar has admitted his dyslexia played a large part in the inner workings of the company. For example, the Swedish-sounding names of the furniture found at IKEA originally served as names chosen by Kamprad because he had difficulty remembering stock keeping units (numbers).
Kamprad has lived in Epalingrs, Switzerland since 1976. According to an interview with TSR, the French language Swiss TV broadcaster, Kamprad drives a 15 year old car, only flies economy class, and encourages IKEA employees to always write on both sides of a paper
In 1994 the personal letters of the Swedish fascrst activist Per Engdahl were made public after his death and it was revealed that Kamprad had joined Engdahl's pro-Nazi group in 1942 and that Kamprad had raised funds for and recruited members to said group at least as late as September 1945. When Kamprad quit the group is unknown but he remained a friend of Engdahl until the early 1950s. Since the public revelation Kamprad has said that he bitterly regrets that part of his life, calling it his greatest mistake and he subsequently wrote letters of apology to all.
|
|
|
|
|
| Company Contact Information
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
2006 (c) Copyright South Florida Business Association.
All rights reserved.
|
|
|