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INGVAR KAMPRAD

Ikea founder donates millions to ‘hometown’ Swedish university

Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad's annual Christmas speech to his employees in Älmhult, home to the world's first Ikea store, contained a welcome Christmas bonus for the whole Småland region.

Ikea founder donates millions to 'hometown' Swedish university

Together with Inter Ikea, Kamprad has donated nearly 1 billion kronor ($146 million) to the newly-formed Kamprad Family Foundation.

“This is something he’s been thinking about for a long time. Småland is special to him, and he wanted to do something for the people and the area that’s closest to his heart,” said the Kamprad family’s spokesman Per Heggenes to the Aftonbladet newspaper.

The foundation will be hand out large sums of money annually to support research, mainly at the Linneaus University, in Kamprad’s native region Småland, in southern Sweden.

However, national and international research may also be supported.

“My family and I are very happy to be able to create this foundation for our beloved Småland together with the Linneaus University and Inter Ikea, after years of preparations,” said Ingvar Kamprad in a statement.

The foundation will promote projects which focus on entrepreneurship, environmental issues and medical research, and those hoping to cash in might want to start preparing their applications.

The first grant application period will open in the autumn of 2012.

On top of the starting capital of 950 million kronor, the Inter Ikea group will donate 270 million kronor annually, if business results allow.

The region’s Linneaus University is delighted to be a part of the foundation.

“This is a lot of money. It’s naturally the biggest thing to have happened to this region,” said Lena Fritzén, board member of the Kamprad Family Foundation and deputy president of Linnaeus University.

Ikea, founded by Ingvar Kamprad in 1943, is the world’s largest home furnishings retailer, and something of a Swedish landmark.

In 2010, the company’s global turnover amounted to some 230 billion kronor.

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WEATHER

Danish Ikea store shelters staff and customers overnight during snowstorm

Heavy snowfall left 31 people looking for a spare cushion at the Aalborg branch of Ikea on Wednesday as they were forced to spend the night at the store.

A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021.
A file photo at Ikea in Aalborg, where 31 people stayed overnight during a snowstorm on December 1st 2021. Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

Anyone who has found themselves wandering the mazy aisles of an Ikea might be able to empathise with the sense of being lost in the furniture store for a seemingly indefinite time.

Such a feeling was probably more real than usual for six customers and 25 staff members who were forced to spend the night at the furniture giant’s Aalborg branch after being snowed in.

Heavy snow in North Jutland brought traffic to a standstill and halted public transport in parts of the region on Wednesday afternoon, resulting in a snow-in at Ikea.

“This is certainly a new situation for us,” Ikea Aalborg store manager Peter Elmose told local media Nordjyske, which first reported the story.

“It’s certainly not how I thought my day would end when I drove to work this morning,” Elmose added.

The 31 people gathered in the store’s restaurant area and planned to see Christmas television and football to pass the evening, the store’s manager reported to Nordjyske.

“Our kitchen staff have made sure there is hot chocolate, risalamande, pastries, soft drinks, coffee and the odd beer for us in light of the occasion. So we’ll be able to keep warm,” he said.

“We couldn’t just send them outside and lock the door behind them at our 8pm closing time. Absolutely not. So of course they’ll be staying here,” he added.

The temporary guests were given lodging in different departments of the store in view of the Covid-19 situation, Nordjyske writes.

“For us , the most important thing was to take care of each other and that everyone feels safe,” Elmose said.

At least Ikea’s stranded customers and staff had somewhere comfortable to lay their heads.

The same can unlikely be said for around 300 passengers at the city’s airport who had to stay overnight at the terminal.

The airport was forced to stop flights from 2:30pm yesterday amid worsening weather, which also prevented buses from transferring passengers to hotels.

“We have around 300 people in the terminal right now and have been giving out blankets on the assumption they will be staying here tonight,” Aalborg Airport operations manager Kim Bermann told Nordjyske.

READ ALSO: Ikea reopens in Denmark after country’s worst retail month this century

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