Freddie Figgers from Florida was two days old when his parents, Nathan and Betty Mae, found him next to a trash container and adopted him as their own.
When he was just nine, his parents bought him a broken computer from a second-hand shop, but that didn’t matter to the young boy. It was a great escape from the bullies at school who would call him “dumpster baby” and “trash can boy.” Freddie took the computer apart, and took parts out of his father's radio alarm clock to repair it.
The moment he managed to get that old computer working, he decided he would dedicate his life to working with technology.
Soon, the director of the after-school program, who was the town’'s mayor, noticed Freddie’s passion for technology and asked him to repair city hall's old computers. That was the beginning of his career.
“Don’t let circumstances define who you are,” commented Freddie, 31, who is now an inventor, tech entrepreneur and a telecommunications millionaire - with an estimated net worth of $70 million.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to try to make the world a better place before I leave it,” he added.