Freddie Figgers (born September 26, 1989) is an American technology entrepreneur, inventor, and founder of Figgers Communication and the Figgers Foundation.

Life and career

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 Quincy is a city in and the county seat of Gadsden County, Florida, United States. Quincy is part of the Tallahassee metropolitan area, Tallahassee, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 7,970 as of the 2020 census, almost eve ...

. As a child he enjoyed repairing old electrical equipment. His first computer repair was a broken

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

he acquired when he was nine and fixed by soldering parts from a

clock radio An alarm clock or alarm is a clock that is designed to alert an individual or group of people at a specified time. The primary function of these clocks is to awaken people from their night's sleep or short naps; they can sometimes be used for o ...

to the circuit board. 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, then 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, repairing computers in a backyard shed. He launched his own

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in 2005. He financed subsequent expansion by writing software for clients. Figgers' inventions include a

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based hyperbolic navigation system owned by the United States Space Force and operated by Mission Delta 31. It is one of the global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) that provide geol ...

tracker that he embedded together with a two-way communicator in the sole of his father's shoe after Nathan Figgers developed

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and started to wander; he sold the rights to the tracker for $2.2 million in January 2014, but his father died the same month. Following the death of his uncle, a

diabetic Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

, 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. At sixteen, Figgers started Figgers Communication. In 2008, when he was nineteen, he started Figgers Wireless and began applying to the

FCC The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is an independent agency of the United States government that regulates communications by radio, television, wire, internet, wi-fi, satellite, and cable across the United States. The FCC maintains ju ...

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

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.

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Figgers, Freddie 1989 births Living people People from Quincy, Florida American technology company founders American chairpersons of corporations African-American company founders 21st-century African-American businesspeople 21st-century American philanthropists Philanthropists from Florida