Life
Abandoned baby adopted by couple now runs a $62 million company
He was adopted at just two days old by a loving couple who raised a special man with a bright mind.
Irene Markianou
12.02.19

When a couple adopted a 2-day old baby that had been abandoned near a dumpster, they had no idea what he would become. Read the story of Freddie Figgers, a 30-year old entrepreneur, who owns a large company without even having finished college.

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It was in 1989 when a newborn was abandoned near a dumpster only to be adopted two days later by a loving couple. The baby was Freddie Figgers, and up to this day, he has never met his biological parents. The couple loved Freddy as if he were their own child and brought him up with affection and care he would never have imagined. But how did the entrepreneurship journey start for the young man?

His first hands-on contact with technology was at the age of nine, when Freddie’s dad gave him a non-functional 1989 computer. The boy managed to disassemble and reassemble it and make it operational again. Actually, he still uses this computer to this day. By the age of twelve, he had already been offered his first job to build a computer program for a significant amount of money, which took him four weeks, and from then on he knew he would quit school and start his own business. He even built a cloud database in his own backyard.

But Figgers always wanted to use computers and electronic devices in order to help people with health issues. The trigger was his father’s dementia, as he says.

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“It was to the point that he would forget to put on his pants, but he would always remember to put on his shoes. That gave me the idea of building this shoe […] (with) capabilities of GPS tracking and also a two-way communicator.”

Figgers soon after all that used the money he received from his freelance jobs to invest in ideas and resources and managed to start his own company, Figgers Communication, the only minority-owned telecommunications company in the US, which is now valued at over $62.3 million dollars. This gave him the possibility to work on incorporating telecommunication systems into healthcare in order to help people who suffer from diseases like diabetes. The phones his company produces have a built-in wireless glucose meter and as soon as you measure your blood sugar the results are sent to your closest relative, doctor and health carrier.

Figgers also wanted to discourage people from texting and driving, so these phones also sense when they start moving with 10miles/hour, which is when they go into airplane mode and therefore prevent texting and driving.

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His advice to young people?

Believe in what you do. Don’t let anyone talk down to you. People would not see your vision, people would not believe in you, but just believe in yourself and keep thriving.”

It is amazing how much this young man has already achieved, and we are sure that with all his talent, resilience and wits, he will soon achieve even bigger things, not only in order to grow his company, but also to help others, which seems to be a major preoccupation of his. Apparently, he understands that giving back to society not only helps others, but it also makes you happier and fulfilled.

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