The story of the “garbage child”. Abandoned by his mother next to a dumpster, became a millionaire at 31 years old
Freddie Figgers is a millionaire at the age of 31, after patenting and selling several inventions in the field of technology. However, his story began near a dumpster, where he was abandoned just two days after his birth.
“Don’t let the circumstances decide who you are,” is his advice, according to the BBC, quoted by Digi 24.
The young man found out the truth about his origins when he was 8 years old. He asked his father, Nathan, about the time of his birth – and he could never forget the answer.
“He said, ‘Look, I’ll be right, Fred. Your biological mother threw you out, and Betty Mae and I (adoptive mother, n.r.), I didn’t want to take you into foster care and I adopted you, and you are my son “, confessed the young millionaire.
Freddie had been found abandoned near a dumpster in a rural Florida area. He was born only 2 days ago.
“When he told me that, I thought I was rubbish and I felt unwanted. But he grabbed me by the shoulder and said, “Listen, don’t let this ever bother you,” he said.
Nathan Figgers was a worker, and Betty Mae Figgers worked on the farm. They lived in Quincy, a rural community of about 8,000 people in North Florida, and were 50 when Freddie was born in 1989.
Many children had already been raised in foster care, but they decided to adopt Freddie when he was two days old. Freddie says they gave him all the love he could want, but other children in Quincy were mean to him.
“Let the children harass me and tell me ‘the dumpster baby’ or the ‘garbage baby’, ‘you’re dirty.’ I got off the school bus and sometimes the kids threw me in the trash and laughed at me, ”said Freddie, deeply moved.
“I saw my father always helping people, stopping on the side of the road and helping strangers, feeding homeless people. They helped me become who I am, “he said.
According to the young man, Nathan is responsible for the young man’s first profitable invention. When his adoptive father became ill with Alzheimer’s and began to disappear from home, Figgers used his passion for computers to create a GPS tracking device placed in the sole of his shoes.
After Nathan died, the young man managed to sell his invention for $ 2.2 million.
Also from personal experience, when a relative died of a diabetic coma, Figgers created a glucometer that transmitted blood glucose levels to a close relative so that the family could be alerted and call an ambulance. He was 22 years old.
Because in rural Florida people had problems with the telephone signal and still used dial-up internet, Figgeers set up his own telecom company, becoming the youngest owner in the field – and the only African-American. It took 394 applications to obtain a license.
Figgers married in 2015 and has a daughter. Asked what advice he would give, he said, “Never give up, no matter how cold the world looks at you.” He says he wants his daughter to have a positive impact on everyone he meets, just as his adoptive father did.