Ingvar Kamprad
Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA, was born March 30, 1926 on the small farm of Elmtaryd, outside the village of Agunnaryd in Sweden. Kamprad showed a disposition for business at a young age. He started by selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy the matches in bulk from Stockholm and sell them individually for a profit. Kamprad quickly expanded from matches into an assortment of items including fish, Christmas cards, seeds, and pens.
Kamprad graduated from school in 1943, and as a reward his father gave him a gift, which he used to open the first IKEA. IKEA did not begin as a furniture store, but originally sold pens, picture frames, wallets, watches, jewelry and anything else he could get for a low price. Kamprad continued selling numerous items until 1951 when he introduced furniture into his inventory.
Due to the rich amounts of timber around Agunnaryd, Kamprad was able to buy numerous furniture pieces from local craftsman at reasonable prices, thus IKEA, the home furnishing store began. 1953 marked the birth of IKEA’s first open showroom and by 1958 Kamprad successfully established the largest furniture display in Scandinavia.
Kamprad was not content to stay in Sweden and soon expanded to Norway and across Europe. To keep up with the changing market, Kamprad needed a way to keep his prices low and stay competitive. He began by leaving his furniture unassembled in flat boxes. He found that it saved on labor, storage, and transportation costs. Kamprad also utilized the tactic of opening his storeroom to shoppers. Shoppers could collect their own furniture, allowing Kamprad to minimize labor and stay competitive.
Kamprad continued expanding, and IKEA currently generates $148 billion a year with 190 stores in 30 countries, and employs 85,000 people. Kamprad stepped back from the day to day operation of IKEA and donated his shares of the company to the nonprofit organization bearing his name, INGK. INGK is currently the richest nonprofit organization in the world, and is controlled by Kamprad and his family who live in Switzerland.