STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Billionaire IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad, who turned a business he launched as a teenager into one of the world’s best known furniture brands, has died at the age of 91, the Swedish company said on Sunday. Kamprad started IKEA in 1943 when he was just 17, but his big break came in 1956, when the company pioneered flat-pack furniture. Sweden’s Prime Minister Stefan Lofven praised Kamprad as an inspirational figure whose influence had reached far beyond his native land. TT News Agency / ReutersBorn on March 30, 1926, in southern Sweden, Kamprad started off selling matches to neighbors at the age of five and soon diversified his inventory to include seeds, Christmas tree decorations, pencils and ball-point pens. “Ingvar Kamprad was a great entrepreneur of the typical southern Swedish kind - hardworking and stubborn, with a lot of warmth and a playful twinkle in his eye,” the company said.

Source: Huffington Post January 28, 2018 14:15 UTC