Most people on this planet start their lives by being born into a loving family. From the start, we are taken care of and given everything we need to do well.
Freddie Figgers, who was 32 at the time, was not so lucky. In fact, there is nothing normal about his life.
Figgers’ birth mother left him on the street when he was a baby because she didn’t want him.
He says, “My mother just threw me away like trash.”
“I shouldn’t be here at all,” he said.
But Nathan and Betty Figgers wanted a boy, so they decided to give Freddie a second chance. They took little Freddie in as their own child and gave him the second chance he so badly needed.
In an article on his website, Figgers said, “It’s amazing that you can meet people like that. To this day, I have never met my biological parents.” “I’ve never been interested.”
As Figgers got older, it was clear that he was good at figuring out how electronic devices worked. Before he turned 10, he began taking apart and putting back together a computer that his dad had given him in 1989.
Then, he got his first job as a computer technician when he was 12 years old. Just three years later, he started building a cloud database in his own backyard, making him his own boss.
When he was an adult, Figgers had his own communications company, Figgers Communications, even though he had never gone to college.
One of his YouTube videos says, “He is now the founder and CEO of Figgers Wireless, a black-owned telecommunications company worth over $62.3 million that you may not have heard of.”
Figgers has also had the chance to try out his own creative ideas. When he was young, he started making things to help his Alzheimer’s-stricken father.
Figgers could always find and talk to his dad because he put a two-way communication device and a GPS tracker in a pair of shoes his dad wore.
Now, Figgers is putting most of his time and energy into making devices to help people with diabetes.
In August, Figgers wrote on Facebook, “Diabetes is a major public health issue that is getting close to epidemic levels around the world. Diabetes is becoming more and more common at a very scary rate. One in 12 adults in the U.S. has diabetes, and type 2 diabetes is now a common disease in children.
“For far too long, big companies that make medical supplies for diabetics have made billions of dollars off of this terrible disease by charging customers too much. We could have sold our idea to any company that makes medical supplies, but that would have only made the problem worse.”
“We have a solution that is all-in-one and can manage diabetics from afar 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But best of all, all patients can pay for it. WE LOVE PEOPLE MORE THAN MONEY.”