Ingvar Kamprad Ingvar Kampradm, the 11th wealthiest person on earth, is one of the most influential men on the planet. Ingvar Kamprad was born in Pjtteryd in lmhult Municipality and grew up on a farm called Elmtaryd, near the small village of Agunnaryd in Ljungby Municipality in the province of Smland, Sweden. Kamprad began to develop a business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. He found that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply from Stockholm, sell them individually at a low price, and still make a good profit. From matches, he expanded to selling fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, and later ballpoint pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a cash reward for succeeding in his studies. He used this money to establish what has grown into IKEA. The acronym IKEA is made up of the initials of his name plus those of Elmtaryd, the family farm where he was born, and the nearby village Agunnaryd.