IKEA Founder Dies

The Swedish founder of the Ikea furniture chain, Ingvar Kamprad, has died at the age of 91, the company has announced. Mr Kamprad - who pioneered flat-pack furniture - died at his home in Småland, Ikea confirmed in a statement. The company said that Mr Kamprad was "one of the greatest entrepreneurs of the 20th century". The billionaire, who was born in 1926 in Småland, founded Ikea at the age of 17. He used some money his father had given him as a gift for performing well at school despite his dyslexia. His company's designs became popular in part because of their simplicity and value.  Mr Kamprad is reported to have come up with the idea of flat-pack furniture after watching an employee remove the legs from a table in order to fit it into a customer's car.

Ingvar Kamprad

Graze Success

So how exactly can a UK food and drink firm conquer the US? We asked a number of companies who have done just that to reveal the secrets of their success. Graze's Antony Fletcher says that his company sat down and formulated a plan whereby they would study their US online sales data to quickly work out exactly which of its snack food packs Americans wanted to buy, which ones they didn't like, and which ones could be adapted to better meet US tastes. "We are very lucky in that we sell via our website," he says. "And we get 15,000 product ratings an hour, which gives us a huge advantage - we can find out very quickly what people like and don't like." So, launching in the US with its entire range of products, within days Graze found out that American customers loved its packs of mixed nuts, but couldn't cope with things like mango chutney, or the firm's "deconstructed Jaffa Cakes". Today US sales account for half of the company's £75.8m annual revenues.

Graze USA

Nutella Riots

A discount on Nutella has led to violent scenes in a chain of French supermarkets, as shoppers jostled to grab a bargain on the sweet spread. Intermarché supermarkets offered a 70% discount on Nutella, bringing the price down from €4.50 (£3.90) to €1.40. But police were called when people began fighting and pushing one another. "They are like animals. A woman had her hair pulled, an elderly lady took a box on her head, another had a bloody hand," one customer told French media. All of its stock was snapped up within 15 minutes and one customer was given a black eye, the report adds. A member of staff at one Intermarché shop in central France told the regional newspaper Le Progrès: "We were trying to get in between the customers but they were pushing us." Some 365 million kilos of Nutella, a hazelnut chocolate spread, is consumed every year in 160 countries around the world. It was created by the Ferrero family in the 1940s in the Piedmont region of Italy, which is famed for its hazelnuts.

Nutella Riots

Virgin Hyperloop

So, here's the plan - we're going to load you into a pod, and then shoot you at 700 mph (1,123 km/h) through a vacuum, taking you to your destination in minutes rather than hours. A 500m (1,640ft) test track, or Devloop, has been constructed and a workforce of 300, including 200 high-calibre engineers, has been assembled. They have run a number of tests, propelling a pod through the tube at speeds of up 387km/h (240mph). So far, however, they have not put people on board. She predicts that the project will have passed through safety certification and be ready to launch a commercial operation by 2021, which seems insanely optimistic.

Hyperloop

4-Day Working Week

One in eight employees works more than 48 hours a week, analysis, but some companies are experimenting to see if it is possible to achieve a better work-life balance. Staff at her company, Normally Design, in London, work a four-day week but are paid as if they were doing the traditional five days. The days remain eight-hours long. She says it's key to the company's success - they can be just as profitable in fewer hours, as employees work more efficiently.  In fact, working outside of business hours is not seen as a positive - managers check if there is anything wrong if it happens. Mental health charity Mind said poor work-life balance could lead to poor mental health in the workplace, which costs the UK economy up to £100bn per year. Stress can leave workers unable to concentrate and less motivated.

4 Day Week

Alternative Easter

Forget the egg. The bunny is over. As chocolatiers look for new ways to make their products stand out, there are far more innovative ways for shoppers to get their confectionery fix at Easter – from chocolate pizzas to avocados. Here are some of the top innovations hitting stores this Easter.

Alternative Easter

Pokito

A product being made by the North East’s reigning company of the year could help provide the solution to the growing problem of disposable coffee cups. Omega Plastics - which has sites at Blyth , Washington and Hartlepool - is working with inventor Andrew Brooks on the pokito collapsible cup, which allows owners to adjust their cup to the size of their drink and collapse it for easy storage and portability. Mr Brooks raised more than £100,000 through crowdfunding to bring his concept to production and has since been working with Omega, which last year won the top prize at the North East Business Awards. He said: “It’s astonishing to think that if you stacked all of the paper cups that are thrown away each day on top of each other, they would be seven times taller than Mount Everest. Pokito will cost you £15 and is available in a range of colours. 

Pokito

How To Sell A T-Shirt for £1,500

A hypebeast is described as someone who follows a trend to be cool or in style. A hypebeast can invest money into brands which can in turn make them money when they sell it on for higher prices. Watch the following clip to see how some of the most successful hypebeasts can sell a t-shirt for up to £1,500. Do you have what it takes?

Hypebeasts

The Million Dollar Sock Entreprenuer

Back in 2016, the 21-year-old told his dad, Mark, that he wanted them to start a business when he graduated from high school, but he wasn't sure what kind. Eventually, they settled on an idea. "John had worn crazy and colourful socks his whole life, so it was something he loved and he suggested we should sell socks," says Mark. A year on, they say they've made $1.4m (£1.03m) in revenue, raised $30,000 for charity, and shipped socks to customers including Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former US President, George HW Bush. The online store has around 1,400 different kinds of socks, featuring everything from cats and dogs to barbeques to Donald Trump. Each order is shipped the same day with a pack of sweets and a hand-written 'thank you' note, and John will deliver them himself if you live nearby. In just over a year, the pair have shipped over 30,000 orders. They donate 5% of all profits to the Special Olympics. "Down's syndrome never holds me back," says John.

Sock Entrepreneur

Fuze Tea

Coca-Cola European Partners has announced it is bringing its premium iced tea brand Fuze Tea to the UK. The drink, which will launch simultaneously across Western Europe and Central and Eastern Europe, is already established in 40 markets. Fuze Tea is a fusion of fruit flavours, botanicals, tea extracts and other ingredients. Blends include Black Tea Peach with a touch of hibiscus and Green Tea Mango with a hint of chamomile. Fuze Tea is also low in calories – between 14 and 19 calories per 10cl depending on the flavour, and sweetened with stevia.The launch will be supported by a £4m marketing campaign across TV, print, digital and social media and in-store sampling to target millennials, which CCEP said is the largest ice tea consumer group. The drink is exempt from the sugar tax & continues the trend of manufacturers moving away from sugar. 

Fuze Tea

Drink Law Changes

Waitrose is to ban the sale of high-caffeine energy drinks to children aged under 16. The supermarket said customers buying drinks containing more than 150mg of caffeine per litre would be asked to prove their age from 5 March. It follows concerns over the impact of sugar and caffeine on children. The British Soft Drinks Association said energy drinks had been "deemed safe" by regulators but that they were not marketed or promoted to under-16s. Fans of Irn Bru have started stockpiling the soft drink ahead of a planned change in recipe. Makers of the fizzy favourite are changing the formula of the product to cut the sugar content by almost half. It is part of a sugar-reduction programme by AG Barr before the government levy on sugary drinks comes into effect in 2018.Calls to make people pay more to use disposable coffee cups - a plan already being considered in Wales - have been taken up by a committee of MPs.  They want UK ministers to impose a 25p "latte levy" per cup, on top of the coffee price, to fund better recycling and reprocessing systems. The UK throws away 2.5bn coffee cups each year, the committee was told.

Drink Law Changes

Easter Egg Hunt

Reese’s Pieces lovers, rejoice: There is now a Reese’s version of a Creme Egg, and despite it only being January, we’re so ready for Easter. Brand new to the UK, Reese’s eggs are filled with Reese’s peanut butter and come covered in a chocolate egg shell. For anyone wanting to try a peanut butter egg, they’re currently selling for 50p & only in Tesco. Cadbury is launching a limited supply of white chocolate Creme Eggs. If that wasn’t exciting enough, if you find one, you could win up to £2,000. The chances of finding one, however, are slim - there are thought to be only 371 in total. What’s more, they’ll look just like normal Creme Eggs.  However, if you find one of the white eggs, not only will you have a delicious and rare treat on your hands but you could also win a financial prize. Any white egg will win you at least £100, 34 eggs are worth £1,000 and one egg could win you an impressive £2,000. The top prize egg will be in a branch of Co-op somewhere in the UK. Shoppers have claimed supermarket workers are unwrapping Cadbury Creme Eggs and putting them back on the shelves in pursuit of a rare chocolate Easter egg worth £2,000.

Easter Egg Hunt