He is a man that generally shuns the limelight yet he is a billionaire, in fact the richest African American and yet you hear so little about him!

In 2014 200 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram terrorists in northeastern Nigeria. The terrible news went worldwide (unlike so many terrible events happening in that part of the world) and every celebrity and their dog was talking about it. These girls became known as the Chibok girls

Years on, in many ways the tragedy has been forgotten. So many tragedies and celebrity mishaps since, who is trying to secure the freedom of anymore of the girls and helping the ones that have escaped?

21 girls were released in October after negotiations with the group and a few other girls have escaped. However, sadly, there have been reports that many Chibok girls don’t want to leave and some have been killed, they have been indoctrinated or just fear another life. We may never know.

Robert Smith, has not forgotten these girls and is putting money straight to make sure they have the opportunity of education. He is offering scholarships to girls that are released by Nigeria’s army.

Quartz reported:

Shehu says Smith is “currently sponsoring the education of 24 girls from Chibok, among them the first set of escapees from Boko Haram at the American University of Nigeria (AUN), Yola.” AUN is owned by Atiku Abubakar, Nigeria’s former vice- president. Given the high cost of tuition ($8,000 for an academic session minus housing and meals), AUN is typically regarded as a school for children of Nigeria’s elite. Smith has also “offered to pay for the education of the 21 released girls through negotiations and is offering to take responsibility for all the others who will hopefully be eventually set free,” Shehu says.

Smith, 54, ranked 268th on Forbes list of America’s wealthiest people last year. With a net worth of $2.5 billion, Smith is the second richest African-American, behind only Oprah Winfrey.
Generally understated, Smith has kept his work and philanthropy away from the public eye for much of his career. Validating his description by the Washington Post as a “quiet billionaire,” after making the cover of Forbes in the fall of 2015, Smith turned down an interview for the magazine’s feature article.

Smith’s career has spanned an internship with Bell Labs and a six-year stint at Goldman Sachs. In 2000, Smith left Goldman Sachs to start Vista Equity Partners and has grown the company to over $28 billion in assets backing “software and technology-enabled businesses” in Silicon Valley. Smith also has a track record in philanthropy and backs programs to support music education and minority entrepreneurship in Texas and Chicago. In January, Smith donated $50 million to Cornell University’s School of Engineering, his alma mater. Following the donation, the university renamed the school the Robert Frederick Smith School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering in Smith’s honor.

src: qz.com

You have to respect this man for his contribution. These girls deserve a second chance after their life was snatched away from them at such a young age.