IKEA Founder Receives Lucia Trade Award - Award Honors One of the Greatest Entrepreneurs of Our Time

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 18, 2004--

Not until nothing ugly can be bought, when the beautiful is as cheap as the ugly, only then can beauty for all become a reality. - Ellen Key, 1899.

Ingvar Kamprad turned vision into mission and dream into reality when he founded IKEA, now among the world's largest brands. The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, New York announced today that Ingvar Kamprad will receive the 18th annual Lucia Trade Award in recognition of his efforts to promote peace through trade and for personifying the values which have become part of the fabric of IKEA and its 84,000 coworkers worldwide. IKEA is a truly global firm that is "working to create a better everyday life for the many people." The award will be presented at a black-tie gala dinner at The Waldorf=Astoria(R) in New York on Tuesday, December 7.

Americans have increasingly learned to appreciate the value of IKEA. From a bumpy start in the U.S. twenty years ago, the furniture chain now appears a winner on most fronts - here and abroad - with $15.5 billion in global sales and more than 200 stores on four continents, in 32 countries. IKEA was ranked No. 40 among the top 100 brand names of the world in the August issue of Business Week, well ahead of such brands as Gucci, Philips, Rolex or Porsche. Even such iconic names as Apple or Volkswagen lag behind. Why? The secret of the brand and the company's success is likely to be in its company culture and millions of fans. Not only is its founder IKEA, every person in the organization is a little bit IKEA as is the customer and the supplier. Their storefronts are instantly recognizable in the Swedish blue and yellow colors, the showrooms are practical and built to show lifestyles or individual model homes along with clever solutions for planning small or larger spaces. With 21 stores in the U.S. people still drive for hours to get the unique IKEA solutions, a piece of furniture, or their share of meatballs with lingonberries.

"Ingvar Kamprad has in his lifetime created a truly global company based on a few dynamic principles," said Henry Gooss, New York Chairman at The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce. "We honor him for his humane approach to doing business, for his untiring search for new and better solutions, and for serving as a role model for aspiring entrepreneurs and workers all over the world."

This year's Lucia Trade Award recipient, the 78-year-old Kamprad, created an amazing corporation based on an even more impressive business concept, and he still lives it. No longer the owner of his creation, Kamprad nevertheless tirelessly travels the world to open new stores, especially where his concept is most needed, and to safeguard what was so far achieved.

"It takes a special mind to reach as far as Kamprad has done in his lifetime," continued Gooss. "It takes an even more special man to stay committed to the lifestyle and principles that enable the company to stay its course, sixty years after it was founded on a farm in the Smaland region of Sweden."

The Lucia Trade Award is presented by The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce, New York on an annual basis. This "Nobel Prize for Trade" is given to an American and a Swede in alternate years. Recipients include industry leaders, entrepreneurs, Kings and Presidents. The first recipient was President Ronald Reagan, who accepted the award in the Oval Office at the White House during his last year in office. Recent years' recipients include Claes Bjork, President of Skanska USA and William Clay Ford, Jr., Chairman and CEO of the Ford Motor Company.

"Although personally proud of the Lucia Trade Award, I look at it less as an award for me as a person and more an award for the many who made IKEA possible: customers, suppliers, coworkers," Kamprad said. "To me, the Trade Award signifies and represents the contributions IKEA as a company has made to the world."

Kamprad has two medals he received from the King of Sweden and an honorary doctorate degree from the University of Lund. "It is already, from a personal perspective, more recognition than anyone could expect during a lifetime," said the legend who, needless to say, leads a normal everyday life himself.

Kamprad set out to make a difference early on. IKEA, an acronym made up of his initials and the initial letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, was founded on the family farm in Sweden's heartland in 1943.

IKEA North America's President, Pernille Spiers-Lopez, stressed how Kamprad's award is also a recognition of the impact of IKEA. "There's still a huge need for what Ingvar Kamprad's creation stands for," said Lopez. "The IKEA concept is global in the real sense of the word. People in Sweden or America and all over the world share pretty much the same dreams and have the same issues. The award marks a celebration of the 20 years IKEA has been working in America. In spite of early mistakes or challenges we stayed our course and the success of later years is of course a confirmation of the strength of our values at IKEA."

For more information about The Swedish-American Chamber of Commerce (SACC New York) and the Lucia Trade Award, visit the web site at http://www.saccny.org or call Renee Lundholm, President at (212) 838-5530.

For more information about IKEA, visit the web site at http://www.ikea-usa.com or call Clive Cashman at (610) 834-0180 ext. 5331.

Editor's Note - JPEG images available upon request:

Mr. Ingvar Kamprad, the founder of IKEA and the recipient of the award.

Crystal sculpture by master glass designer Bertil Vallien.