From Dumpster Boy to Billionaire: Man who was Abandoned as A Newborn Now Owns over N22bn Empire
- Freddie Figgers was thrown away into a dumpster hours after being born and was raised in a foster home
- Figgers grew up being referred to as "dumpster baby" by his peers at elementary school
- The "dumpster boy" went survived the torment and built himself into a tech guru who founded a firm that is now valued at over N22 billion
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When Freddie Figgers was born in 1989, his mother threw him away into a dumpster in Florida.
Source: UGC
A Good Samaritan found him and informed the police, after which he was treated and given to foster parents Nathan and Betty Figgers who lived in nearby Quincy.
The Washington Post reports that he was adopted as one of their children, growing up alongside the couple's daughter.
When his peers in elementary school got wind of his upbringing, they nicknamed him “dumpster baby.”
“It's a rural area, so after it happened, everybody heard about it,” revealed the 30-year-old.
As embarrassing as it was, Figgers learnt to live with the nickname, although he reveals he always thought about it.
Encounter with laptop that changed his life
At the age of nine, his foster father bought him a broken Macintosh computer that cost $25 (N103,000) and allowed him to explore it.
“He thought that a computer might help to keep me out of trouble,” Figgers said.
That secondhand purchase spurred the youngster's interest in technology and set him on a path that has made him who he is now.
He not only taught himself how to dismantle and put the machine back together but also discovered that he could power it up.
By the time he was 13, Figgers had become so good at computer systems that he was employed as a computer technician by the city of Quincy.
Becoming a tech genius raking millions
Two years later, the 15-year-old started his first company, Figgers Computers, which dealt with computer repairs and data storage on servers.
With his own cloud database and a base of 150 clients seeking his services, Figgers decided against going to college.
“I wouldn’t recommend my path to everyone, but it worked for me," he reiterated.
His biggest sale came in 2012 when he sold a GPS tracker to a company for an impressive $2.2 million (N906 million).
Figgers was only 23 years old.
His foster father died two years later after suffering from Alzheimer’s disease, but he left him with lots of gratitude.
“I’ve always been so grateful to him and my mom. They taught me not to let my circumstances define who I was,” disclosed Figgers.
Figgers who now lives in Parkland is married to Natalie and is a father of a daughter aged two.
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In a similar story, a young security guard recently served as an inspiration for many after he displayed a ton of determination.
According to a Facebook post by Karabo Lefa, the security guard found out there was an opening at the bank where he was working.
As a graduate, he saw an opportunity to get the position and so he asked his manager if he could apply. After he did the aptitude test, it was found out that the guard was actually the best-performing candidate.
Source: Legit.ng
