Life only ends when you quit, that’s what Freddie Figures proved to everyone when he went from being an abandoned child in a dumpster to a successful entrepreneur.
His biological mother ruthlessly abandoned Figgers just two days after he was born.The poor newborn was left by his heartless mother in a cold trash can, not thinking about the possible outcome of such a cruel act. No one in their right mind would drop a child in such a place, don’t you agree?
Now the CEO certainly had a rough start in life, and to think about it, his life could have ended right then and there.
Fortunately, the heavens above sent him a very supportive and loving couple, Nathan and Betty Figgers. They adopted the then neglected baby who grew up possessing such advanced knowledge in technology.
When Freddie was only nine years old, he received his first computer. It was broken, but he managed to get it working after several attempts at tinkering, tinkering, and troubleshooting.
He turned out to be a genius and got his first job at the age of 12. Then, when he turned 15, he already had a cloud computing company. He got the idea of putting up the company when a tornado hit an Alabama-based car dealership that lost all its computer files including their clients’ information.
To prevent data loss in the future, Figgers tried to formulate a way for individuals or large companies to back up their information on a remote server. When thinking about a remote server, one would immediately think of a fancy facility. In his case, that so-called remote server was only located in his backyard.
He also invented a special shoe equipped with a GPS tracker and a two-way communicator. According to him, he was really interested in the creation of such an invention because of his father, who after that began to show symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. He said that his father would often forget a lot of basic things such as wearing his pants.
He wanted to make sure that his father was always safe, so he started working in the healthcare industry.
The two-way communicator allowed him to talk to his father even if they weren’t together. That way, he didn’t need to worry about his father doing something dangerous. On the other hand, the GPS allowed him to track his father’s whereabouts in real time so that he never went missing.
He eventually quit school because he got a job offer and missed class for approximately 2 to 3 weeks. During his absence from class, he managed to create a computer program in just four weeks. He got paid $80,000 for doing it and that’s when he started investing in his own telecom company Figgers Communication.
At 24, Figgers had already designed and built 80 custom software programs!He achieved all this, despite being a «dumpster baby», nothing from his past stopped him from pursuing his dreams and making his own fortune.
Figgers didn’t stop and continued climbing his way to the top. His company is now valued at over $62 million!
On top of his success, Figgers also gives back to his community by offering scholarships to deserving students, sponsoring youth programs, paying seniors’ bills, and helping to buy foreclosures.
“I believe turning caring into action, and if you see a problem find a solution to deliver an impact to change someone’s life,” Figgers said. “I’m going to impact this world and change today for a better tomorrow because money is nothing but a tool, but with that tool, we can impact and change everyday people’s lives with opportunities.”
Figgers’ story is truly an inspiration to everyone who came from nothing like him. From being a “dumpster baby” to a successful CEO of a multi million telecom company.
