A year after he joined the New Swedish Movement, Ingvar founded IKEA. The 17-year-old had overcome his dyslexia to excel in his school leaving exams, and his proud father awarded him a sum of money for the achievement, which was used to set up the firm. IKEA is actually a simple acronym of the initials of its founder's name and surname, as well as the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and nearby village where he grew up.

Ingvar started out by selling replicas of the modern kitchen table that sat in his Uncle Ernst's kitchen – the tables sold like hot cakes. In 1948, Ingvar expanded his range of affordable furniture, which he sold via mail order, using an old milk cart to ferry the goods to the local railway station for shipping.

Ingvar Kamprad: how IKEA's enigmatic founder became a billionaire