{"id":459296,"date":"2018-01-29T07:15:50","date_gmt":"2018-01-29T07:15:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ghana-mma.com\/2018\/01\/29\/ikea-founder-ingvar-kamprad-dies-in-sweden-at-91\/"},"modified":"2018-01-29T07:15:50","modified_gmt":"2018-01-29T07:15:50","slug":"ikea-founder-ingvar-kamprad-dies-in-sweden-at-91","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2018\/01\/29\/ikea-founder-ingvar-kamprad-dies-in-sweden-at-91\/","title":{"rendered":"Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad dies in Sweden at 91"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The Swedish founder of the Ikea furniture chain, Ingvar Kamprad, has died at the age of 91, the company has announced.<\/p>\n

Mr Kamprad \u2013 who pioneered flat-pack furniture \u2013 died at his home in Sm\u00e5land, Ikea confirmed in a statement.<\/p>\n

The company said that Mr Kamprad was \u201cone of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century\u201d.<\/p>\n

The billionaire, who was born in 1926 in Sm\u00e5land, founded Ikea at the age of 17.<\/p>\n

He used some money his father had given him as a gift for performing well at school despite his dyslexia.<\/p>\n

In the later years of his life, Mr Kamprad faced questions over his past links to fascist groups \u2013 something he admitted, but said was a \u201cmistake\u201d.<\/p>\n

In a statement on Sunday, Ikea said that Mr Kamprad had \u201cpeacefully passed away at his home\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe worked until the very end of his life, staying true to his own motto that most things remain to be done,\u201d it added. Mr Kamprad eventually stepped down from the company\u2019s board in 2013, at the age of 87.<\/p>\n

\u201cIngvar Kamprad was a great entrepreneur of the typical southern Swedish kind \u2013 hardworking and stubborn, with a lot of warmth and a playful twinkle in his eye,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n

His company\u2019s designs became popular in part because of their simplicity and value.<\/p>\n

Mr Kamprad is reported to have come up with the idea of flat-pack furniture after watching an employee remove the legs from a table in order to fit it into a customer\u2019s car.<\/p>\n

Furniture designer Jeff Banks said that Mr Kamprad\u2019s creations radically changed how people made and designed products for the home.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have tried to reproduce and copy that, but unsuccessfully,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Banks added that the designs produced and sold through the retailer made good use of recyclable products, adding that Mr Kamprad was \u201chead and shoulders above the rest\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kamprad was renowned for his devotion to frugality, reportedly driving an old Volvo and travelling by economy class.<\/p>\n

In a 2016 interview with Swedish television channel TV4, Mr Kamprad said that it was \u201cin the nature of Sm\u00e5land to be thrifty\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you look at me now, I don\u2019t think I\u2019m wearing anything that wasn\u2019t bought at a flea market,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He told the channel that he built his business on a \u201clocal ethos\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Sm\u00e5land in the blood, and we know what a krona is \u2013 even though it is not as much as it was when we bought candy and went to elementary school,\u201d he said, referring to the Swedish currency.<\/p>\n

People took to social media on Sunday to pay their respects to the \u201cgreatest Swedish entrepreneur to have ever lived\u201d.<\/p>\n

Swedish Foreign Minister Margot Wallstrom tweeted her condolences, saying that Mr Kamprad had \u201cput Sweden on the world map\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ikea: Key facts<\/h2>\n
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  • Ikea started in 1943 and now has 389 stores worldwide<\/li>\n
  • The name comes from Mr Kamprad\u2019s initials (IK), together with the name of the farm he grew up on \u2013 Elmtaryd (E) \u2013 and the nearby village Agunnaryd (A)<\/li>\n
  • The company\u2019s retail sales totalled 36.4bn euros ($43bn, \u00a330bn) in 2016<\/li>\n
  • Its flat-pack furniture became iconic both for its affordability and for its picture-based assembly instructions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    Ikea has remained privately-owned under a Dutch trust operated by the Kamprad family. Its complex business structure has drawn controversy and the European Commission said last year that it had launched an investigation into Ikea\u2019s tax arrangements.<\/p>\n

    The European Green Party said that the arrangement had allowed the company to avoid paying some \u20ac1bn in tax between 2009 and 2014.<\/p>\n

    A spokesman for Dutch-based Inter Ikea, one of the company\u2019s two divisions, said that the company had been taxed \u201cin accordance with EU rules\u201d.<\/p>\n

    In an interview in the 1980s, Mr Kamprad said that his vision for Ikea was that it would be a company that would make life easier for its customers.<\/p>\n

    In more recent years, Mr Kamprad had faced scrutiny over his past links to Nazi groups.<\/p>\n

    The tycoon revealed some elements of his past in a book in 1988, admitting that he was a close friend of the Swedish fascist activist Per Engdahl, and a member of his New Swedish Movement between 1942 and 1945.<\/p>\n

    He said that his involvement was youthful \u201cstupidity\u201d and the \u201cgreatest mistake\u201d of his life.<\/p>\n

    But a 2011 book by Elisabeth Asbrink alleged details beyond what Mr Kamprad had previously admitted. She wrote that he was an active recruiter for a Swedish Nazi group, and stayed close to sympathisers well after World War Two.<\/p>\n

    At the time a spokesman for Mr Kamprad said he had long admitted flirting with fascism, but that there were now \u201cno Nazi-sympathising thoughts in Ingvar\u2019s head whatsoever\u201d.<\/p>\n

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    Source: BBC<\/p>\n

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