Ingvar Kamprad is currently the world's eighth richest billionaire, at an estimated net worth of $31 billion USD. Even though you might not recognize the name, you'll most definitely recognize the brand name of the home-furnishings retail chain he founded - IKEA! He is also the wealthiest person of European descent.
You could hardly ask for humbler beginnings than that of Ingvar Kamprad. He was born March 30, 1926, on a small farm called Elmtaryd, near the village of Agunnaryd in Ljungby Municipality in the province of Småland, Sweden. This is where the acronym "IKEA" comes from; it's the first initials of his name, plus 'E' for Elmtaryd and 'A' for Agunnaryd.
Kamprad began his entrepreneur ambitions at a young age, by buying matches in bulk from Stockholm and selling them to the local community from the back of his bicycle. Later he expanded into also peddling fish, Christmas tree ornaments, seeds, pencils, and ball-point pens. His father took note of his son's enterprising spirit, and gave him an allowance as a reward. Encouraged by this boost, Kamprad expanded his inventory ever further until he was selling wallets, watches, jewelery and stockings. Eventually he retired the bicycle to stay home and conduct his sales through mail order. It was at this time that he founded his company and named it IKEA.
In 1948, Ingvar Kamprad first added furniture to his catalog of products. The trouble with this is, even though he wasn't trying to sell it from the back of a bicycle anymore, furniture was still bulky and expensive to mail out. So by 1955, he was selling his own furniture, which he would sell in a flat pack with assembly instructions. Kamprad just happened to have dyslexia, and himself had difficulty following complex directions. From this sprang his inspiration: he would make the assembly instructions easy to understand, even for him to use, and make the furniture components as easy to handle as possible.
After doing business from home for a number of years, he opened the first IKEA store in Sweden in 1958. From there, he expanded outside Sweden to Norway in 1963 and Denmark in 1969. Throughout the 1970's, he continued to expand his chain of stores into other countries, including Switzerland, Germany, Japan, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada, and Singapore.
Ingvar Kamprad, famous for his micro-managing style, continued to apply his "keep it simple" philosophy to running an international retail business. The IKEA stores were planned from the ground up to be distinctive and efficient. The color motif is always blue with yellow accents, which are also the national colors of the Swedish flag. The store layout naturally takes customers through a showroom first, where they can see the furniture models assembled and on display, and then a warehouse section where customers can grab a cart and buy the furniture. In keeping with his vision of simplicity, he chose names for different furniture models so customers wouldn't have to keep track of complex inventory numbers.
Today, IKEA furniture stores have expanded to virtually every developed country in the world. Notably, they are one of the few stores to keep a chain outlet in both Israeli and Islamic Middle Eastern countries. In addition, the store still maintains a bustling catalog business to reach parts of the world without a retain outlet.
Ingvar Kamprad himself has a world-wide reputation for his thrift - so much so that it's difficult to sort out the facts from the apocrypha. He takes the subway to work, drives a 15-year old Volvo otherwise, flies economy class when he travels, and writes memos to his employees instructing them in such minute matters as using both sides of a piece of paper.
It cannot be denied that Ingvar Kamprad is a visionary genius. His improvements and innovations can be seen in every step of his business, from furniture design down to customer service. By applying his own principles of both frugality and accessibility, he has made a connection with customers who are also frugal and would prefer to be as self-sufficient as possible.