Freddie Figgers
Freddie Figgers | |
|---|---|
 Headshot of Freddie Figgers | |
| Born | September 26, 1989 Gadsden County, Florida |
| Occupation | CEO of Figgers Communication |
| Spouse(s) | Natlie G. Figgers, Esq. (2015–present) |
| Children | 1 |
| Parent | Nathan Figgers (adoptive father) Betty Mae Figgers (adoptive mother) |
| Website | FreddieFiggers.com |
Freddie Figgers (born September 26, 1989)[1] is an American technology entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of Figgers Communication and the Figgers Foundation.[2]
Life and career
[edit]Freddie Figgers was abandoned at birth and adopted in two days by Nathan Figgers. Nathan was a maintenance worker and handyman, while his wife, Betty Mae, was a farm worker. Freddie grew up in Quincy, Florida. As a child he enjoyed repairing old electrical equipment. His first computer repair was a broken Macintosh he acquired when he was nine and fixed by soldering parts from a clock radio to the circuit board.[1] When he was twelve, he began repairing and maintaining computers at his school during an after-school program. The program's director, who was the mayor, the hired him to repair computers at city hall. Later, Freddie wrote a program to check water pressure gauges. He then left school at fifteen to go into business,[1] repairing computers in a backyard shed. He launched his own cloud storage service in 2005.[3][4] He financed subsequent expansion by writing software for clients.[3][5]
Figgers' inventions include a GPS tracker that he embedded together with a two-way communicator in the sole of his father's shoe after Nathan Figgers developed Alzheimer's disease and started to wander;[4] he sold the rights to the tracker for $2.2 million in January 2014, but his father died the same month.[1][2]
Following the death of his uncle, a diabetic, he also developed a networked glucometer, to transmit users' glucose levels to a designated relative and their physician and it created an alert in case of abnormalities.[1]
At sixteen, Figgers started Figgers Communication.[5][6][7] In 2008, when he was nineteen, he started Figgers Wireless[6] and began applying to the FCC for a telecommunications license to provide internet service to rural areas in northern Florida and adjacent southern Georgia. When he received a license in 2011, at 21, he was the youngest telecom operator in the United States, and as of February 2020, Figgers Communication was the only Black-owned telecom in the country.
Personal life
[edit]Figgers is married to Natlie Figgers, an attorney; they have a daughter. He runs a foundation that assists disadvantaged children and families and provides grants for education and healthcare projects.[1][8][9][10]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d e f Lucy Wallis (June 6, 2021). "Freddie Figgers: The millionaire tech inventor who was 'thrown away' as a baby". BBC News.
- ^ a b "Paying it forward: Freddie Figgers' nonprofit helps people living with Alzheimer's". Tallahassee Democrat. Retrieved 2022-08-29.
- ^ a b Ricky Riley (August 12, 2016). "Self-Made 26-Year-Old Tech Entrepreneur Creates Multi-Million Dollar Telecommunications Company". Atlanta Black Star.
- ^ a b Shannen Hill (September 21, 2017). "Figgers Starts Black-Owned Telecommunications Network". Los Angeles Sentinel.
- ^ a b Lynn Hatter (May 5, 2015). "Quincy's Freddie Figgers Is Trying To Shake Up The Cell Phone Business". WFSU.
- ^ a b Curtis Bunn (February 28, 2020) [February 24, 2020]. "Head of America's only black telecom company wants to change the mobile landscape". ABC News.
- ^ RitaLorraine (July 29, 2016). "Freddie Figgers: Four Patents and Going Strong!". The Black History Channel.
- ^ Nii Okai Tetteh (December 14, 2018). "Freddie Figgers: Meet The 29-Year-Old Founder Of The Only Black Owned Telco In America Worth $62.3 Million". Kuulpeeps.
- ^ "Entrepreneur offers scholarships to graduating seniors". Tallahassee Democrat. May 30, 2017.
- ^ "This HBCU Is Helping Students Become Trailblazers In The Aviation Industry". news.yahoo.com. 8 August 2022. Retrieved 2022-08-29.