Freddie Figgers is the proverbial stone that the builders rejected. Abandoned as a newborn next to a dumpster, he was adopted by an elderly couple in rural Florida. His spirit was crushed when he discovered that those were not his biological parents.
Figgers was viciously bullied by other children who called him ‘Dumpster baby,’ ‘Trash can boy,’ and other slurs. He would go on to encounter further adversities on his path to success in the tech world.
“He said, ‘Listen I’m going to shoot it to you straight, Fred. Your biological mother, she threw you away, and me and Betty Mae, we didn’t want to send you through foster care and we adopted you, and you’re my son.’ When he told me that, I was like, ‘OK I’m trash,’ and I felt unwanted. But he grabbed my shoulder and he said, ‘Listen, don’t you ever let that bother you.'” Figgers explained his origin story in an interview with BBC.
At the age of 21, Figgers became the youngest telecoms operator in the US. His Florida based Figgers Wireless is the only minority-owned telecommunications company in the United States.
From a tender age, Figgers was fascinated with technology. He constantly tinkered with electronics such as radios, alarm clocks, and VCRs. At age nine, his father bought him a used computer from Goodwill. He borrowed his father’s electrical tools and used parts out of a radio alarm clock to repair the broken computer. It took about 50 attempts before he could successfully complete the project. Figgers knew from that moment of triumph that his future lay in technology and innovation.
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He attended an after-school club where he worked on fixing the school’s broken computers. His skill impressed the club’s leader who hired Figgers to repair computers for the Mayor’s office at several dollars an hour. When the mayor brought on a contractor to create software that would monitor the water pressure gauges, Figgers had a better solution. He created a low-cost and efficient program that ensured that everyone’s water pressure was correct. The teenager had saved the town $600, 000 in service costs.
At age 12, Figgers was dealt another personal blow. His father began displaying symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The adversity triggered him to create a tracker for how far the brain disease with no cure had advanced. He equipped his father’s shoe with a built-in chip, GPS, microphone and loudspeaker that could determine and communicate his location when he wandered off. Figgers ultimately developed his program into a feature that could determine how many steps his father had taken. In 2014, he sold the rights for $2.2 million. His father had unfortunately already died from Alzheimer’s.
Figgers used the money earned from freelancing to set up his own computing business. Moved by the damage that a tornado had done to the customer records of an insurance company, he set up a cloud computing service. Next, he set out to bring mobile phone coverage and access to the internet to rural America. He knew that big telecommunications companies were not interested in investing their money and equipment in areas with much smaller populations and decided to individually bridge the gap.
After a few applications to the the US’ Federal Communications Commission, Figgers secured a licence to start his own telecoms company. At 21, he was both the youngest and the first Black person in the US to own a telecoms company.
Figgers Wireless not only provides a network service but also creates affordable smart phones which have multi-user profiles. Its phones provide cellular, mobile broadband, and landline phones, and international services around the world. The company services nearly a million customers in more than 80 countries and is valued at $62.3 million.
Figgers understands the importance of helping others. He is the founder and board chair of the nonprofit organization The Figgers Foundation which has been involved in multiple humanitarian causes. The nonprofit runs two schools in Africa, offers scholarships to Florida high school seniors from low-income households, and distributed millions of N95 masks to first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Figgers is currently working with the Florida chapters of the Alzheimer’s Association to provide the Brain Bus RV and van with mobile hotspots for visiting families.
“I saw my father always helping people, stopping on the side of the road helping strangers, feeding the homeless. He was an incredible man, and for them to take me in and raise me, that’s the man I want to be like,” Figgers said on how his father inspired him.
